WonderPhone to Orchestrate the First Experiment of "Podcasted" Mobile TV Content in the World

21/11/2005 WonderPhone, the leading European publisher of mobile television programming and a major publisher of mobile games and interactive applications, announces that it will request authorization from the CSA to experiment a new concept of mobile television called 'Push to Store'.

'Push to Store' will allow permanent, over-the-air downloading of video programs that can be consumed on demand, and in any order, by the user on his wireless phone, essentially transforming the phone into a multimedia jukebox. This trial's main objective will be to validate new video consumption patterns on the mobile platform and to compare and contrast them with those that exist for traditional television programming. This experiment in France will be the first one of its type in the world.

Since the launch of 3G services, observed consumer consumption patterns have confirmed those previously identified in various mobile television trials initiated a few months ago in Europe. Unsurprisingly, these mobile video consumption patterns systematically converged, regardless the application, towards relatively short consumption periods: 30 minutes per month on average for 3G and 20 minutes per day with DVB-H (still a far cry from the 3 hours and 40 minutes for traditional television).

These short consumption periods require specific program editing to meet user needs. Traditional television formats (26, 52 and 90 minutes) are not suited to consumption durations that last only a few minutes.

In addition, the small amount of time a user can spare to watch content underscores the need for immediate and direct access to specific programs. A user with 5 minutes of spare time who wants to watch sports results or a weather forecast will be frustrated to have to watch through an entire traditional series of programs - news, stock market, sports, politics, weather forecast, horoscope - to get to see the programs he wishes to. In short: the user would not have been able to watch the desired programs in the amount of spare time available.

Whether 'time saving' or 'time killing', users' expectations clearly skew towards a service offer of short programs (news summary, sports' results, sketches, etc.), that last only few minutes each, that are directly accessible and available whenever they want.

"Push to Store": optimized utilization of radio bandwidth; a new distribution opportunity and a larger cultural diversity

Radio bandwidth is a scarce resource, Bandwidth utilization, therefore, needs to be highly optimized. With the previously identified mobile video consumption patterns in mind, traditionally programmed and permanently broadcasted/looped television feeds do not meet the optimization requirements for bandwidth utilization.

However, recent technological evolutions have produced a new digital content delivery method that not only optimizes bandwidth but also creates an enhanced user experience. The concept is called "Push to Store" . It allows the distribution of a single program (Push) that is directly stored in the memory of the mobile phone (Store) for consumption when the user decides to watch it. This type of delivery can optimize bandwidth utilization by a factor of up to 20.

Radio bandwidth is a public resource. Its utilization should be of public interest. By optimizing distribution using "Push to Store" delivery, there would be enough available bandwidth to provide 15 to 20 times more channels and/or programs. The user would then have access to a large choice of services and this increased distribution would facilitate the development of a strong audiovisual and multimedia production economy in France, creating employment and encouraging innovation similar to that of the game industry 15 years ago.

An experiment targeting 15-25 year old users: "what I want", "when I want", "where I want"
With its experience across the different mobile video markets in Europe, WonderPhone noticed that the main users of these type of services are young people. The 15-25 generation, the mobile generation, Internet and Ipod generation, are in many respects forerunners of these types of services and will be the first to adopt them in the market.

In 2004, the European Advertising Association carried out a study on the media consumption habits of 700 young people between the ages of 15 and 24 in 8 European countries. The results showed that their media consumption habits are changing radically: television consumption (as a percentage of total media consumption) has dropped from 64% to 31% in two years while Internet consumption increased from 12% of the media consumption to 24% in one year and continues to increase.

This generation, very familiar with new technologies such Peer to Peer, Bloging, Social Networking, Instant Messaging, podcasts and dating websites, does not see itself any longer in the non-communicative world of traditional media but instead seeks out a community on the Internet to communicate, interact, exchange ideas, and is more and more ready to create its own "playlist" of services. The user becomes the producer and director of his own programs. 3G technology, including visio services, provides the user with a camera connected to the rest of the world and lets the user share his experience with a community to say: "I was there", "I saw it", "I did it", etc.

WonderPhone notes that none of the 4 mobile TV trials recently launched in France over the past few weeks has chosen to explore these types of services. To that end, WonderPhone decided to implement a 5th mobile TV experiment, using the "Push to Store" concept to match the new societal trends.

The experiment orchestrated by WonderPhone will produce an objective description of what are today only expectations. The output of this trial should consequently be of great interest for all sectors of the audiovisual and mobile industry.