New Media News

Mobile entertainment under spotlight

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:07

Mobile video will be a major catalyst towards the growth and development of faster broadband and wireless networks on the African continent, according to DStv Mobile CEO Mark Rayner, who spoke at the recent inaugural Mobile Entertainment Africa Conference (MEAC) held at the One & Only Hotel in Cape Town.

Rayner was one of 140 senior industry practitioners to attend the conference, which was put together by interactive specialist UK event organiser All Amber. His presentation touched on the reality of mobile TV as it stands in Africa today and noted the uniqueness of the African mobile consumer. Rayner also made the point that broadcast and streaming can work well together in the mobile TV domain.

“The biggest mobile TV users are Korea and Japan but there is still no definitive business model that works,” continued Rayner. “DStv has been working hard on dedicated devices for mobile TV that offer greater usability, for example our Drifta mobile decoder, which is available in South Africa and other African countries.”

However, he stressed that there won’t be enough bandwidth for a long time due to the improvement of quality and quantity across the Internet and mobile platforms. “Therefore the only way forward is to change the attitude in pricing to suit the pre-paid mobile market.”

Pricing is one issue but content generation is of far more concern, said Emma Kaye of Bozza. Kaye started out in the mobile TV industry in 2002 and worked with Nokia to create rich media content across its series 60 phones (3520). This content proved hugely successful, underscoring Kaye’s conviction that relevant content on a handset can drive the uptake of technology.

Her presentation maintained that operators don’t understand content. “I believe there is an influx of mediocre content that isn’t made for mobile phones. There is no strategy to address mobile entertainment, which leaves consumers unaddressed and ignores the idea that handsets are communication tools,” she said.

Kaye’s recent efforts have included working with independent filmmakers to restructure the production process to suit mobile content. She trained local filmmakers over five days to produce short form content, which spawned her mobisite Bozza. Upon its launch in October 2010 the platform reached 40 000 users — a clear indication that mobile content is in high demand.

Bozza aims to offer local content that is relevant to communities, allows people to express themselves and further develop the idea of hyper-local newsrooms. There has been evidence of this growth in projects such as Khayelitsha Mobile TV. To conclude Kaye spoke of the importance of user generated content (UGC) that can find a home on accessible platforms such as Bozza, a company that aims at ‘getting huge amounts of content from across the continent’.

Other notable executives to attend the Mobile Entertainment Africa Conference were Gavin Marshall of MXit, Brett Loubser of Samsung Mobile SA and Media 24’s Renato Balona. Samsung Mobile SA was the key sponsor of the Mobile Entertainment Africa Conference.

SCREENAFRICA Print Magazine – October 2011 (view here)
By Jasyn Howes

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