MOBILE DEBATE - Mobilising TV's potential.

Television's relationship with telephony isn't a new one - TV producers introduced on-screen telephone numbers in the 1980s. But the arrival of the mobile phone as a mass-market phenomenon in the mid-to-late 1990s, signalled a sea change in broadcasters' attitudes. TV companies, by now used to one-way premium-rate fixed-line calls, began to realise the benefits of two-way interaction. With the advent of SMS in particular, television now has potentially the most powerful, personal two-way relationship it has ever had with the viewer. More importantly, perhaps, it now has a proven mechanism for paid-for interactivity - a mechanism that should generate much needed revenue, or so the theory goes. In an attempt to sift the reality from the hype, Broadcast brought together some key decision-makers across television, radio and mobile marketing to discover the issues facing broadcasters.Brainstorm chief executive Steve Wunker: 'Six months ago in broadcast a lot of SMS was seen as a novelty. But I really can't say that anymore. Broadcasters are more aware of the potential of mobile communication and there's a lot more they can do. It's a great way to stimulate loyalty and make audiences feel more involved in the programme. And there's revenue-generating potential. We've seen some excellent steps in that direction.If you look at advanced countries, such as Norway, they have gameshows now where you can actually play along via your mobile and participate actively for prizes. The revenue potential on those lines is very big.There are some technical challenges to be overcome but the future looks very bright.' GWR director of digital and new media Simon Ward: 'The great opportunity for us all is that mobile, especially SMS, is a person-to-person medium. We're no longer broadcasting to the audience, but have the potential to develop relationships with individual viewers. People receiving messages from broadcasters don't see it as a company talking to them, it's a one-to-one message.'BBCi development producer, emerging platforms Nick Aldridge: 'With SMS there's real interactivity. It's not an enhancement.'Technical challenges Aldridge: 'We can see what's happening in Norway and can see that two-way communication is obviously the big thing. The problem in the UK is getting SMS working across all four (mobile phone) networks. Without universality it's very hard to run services on a television show or radio programme. If you look at how we've done telephony over the past 20 years there's been one network and one billing system off the back of that.Other people who come along use that billing system. With SMS you've got companies with four different strategies. If you want to try and do this yourself as a broadcaster you've got to strike a multitude of different relationships. It makes it very, very hard.'Channel 5 head of new business Adam Strange: 'Getting universality is vital. We certainly wouldn't run an SMS competition unless we could do it across all the networks. But all we can say at the moment is, here's the highest tariff and you will be charged up to that. But it puts people off. It's no good saying that we charge 30p on Orange, 50p on Vodafone and 70p elsewhere.What we want is the same as the telephony model where if you're phoning up to vote it's 10p no matter where you are. We are waiting until we have technological alignment when we can offer viewers one simple proposition.'Aldridge: 'Operating text with some of our larger programmes is also a big issue in terms of the volume of traffic. For the first time you've got a massive amount of editorial coming in to deal with. Some platforms fall over after about 2,000 messages an hour. The bigger solutions can deal with around 20,000 to 40,000. We're hoping that short codes (four digit common numbers shared between networks for TV texting) can cope with maybe 100,000 up to 500,000. But even then, there's probably still a way to go before we can start rolling these things out on a Saturday night.'Strange: 'Traffic issues do need to be resolved. Currently if we ask some of the networks to support an SMS campaign for our Tuesday night movie they'll say, stick it on a late-night sports programme going out at two o'clock in the morning and we might just about be able to cope with it. It's just a bit frustrating.'Aldridge: 'It's more frustrating for the programme-makers because they can see the potential. There's a danger that you can keep setting up and working on ideas with them and then you can't deliver them.'ECONOMICS OF MOBILEAldridge: 'We've experimented with some outbound services but the economics are complicated. We're running a successful GCSE service off the back of our Bitesize brand and that has seen a lot of 15 to 16-year-olds signing up to SMS. The question is, can you open up that to 200,000 children if you're subsidising the cost of the outbound SMS? It's not our intention to make money, but on the other hand you can't run services that are going to cost you £500,000 to run.' Wunker: 'Reverse billing (allowing content providers to charge users via their phone bill when they opt for text services) is the answer. But SMS at the moment is a very profitable product for a mobile operator - the profit margin is around 95 per cent. There's an awfully long way for that margin to drop. But at least the networks have woken up in the past six months to the fact that broadcasters can generate them a lot of revenue. So now they're offering revenue share. It's about 1p on a non-premium message so no one is going to pay all their overheads with that. But at least it's a step in the right direction.'Strange: 'Ideally, we want a better range of tariffs. At the moment we are being offered the 10p tariff but we'd love to see a 5p or 6p tariff because we are looking at what we can do with children's programmes.' Ward: 'Sometimes it's better looking at it as really cost-effective marketing rather than as a medium that has to recoup its costs. We are at an early stage in the development of one of our DAB channels where you get to choose a track via SMS or the website and add a message. We send a message back telling you when it is going to be aired. It's absolutely brilliant in that it's a small channel which enables us to experiment for a few thousand pounds a year.And we can gather so much information about these people - we know who asks for S Club 7 or Westlife - that it's a really valuable piece of information when it comes to running a commercial radio station.' Aldridge: 'But is sending out 100,000 well-targeted messages of enough value compared to a 30-second radio trail which costs a few hundred pounds? We need to measure the value of those people who respond to SMS mail-outs.' Ward: 'The real problem at the moment is being able to work with the networks on a different basis. I wonder whether they believe we are friend or foe. To me the answer is to go back to some sort of informal lobby group that can talk to the networks about a long-term media business plan.The networks aren't going to take us seriously if all they see is a diverse amount of tactical applications.' Wunker: 'The approach (of network operators) is more consistent in other countries. Networks in the UK have long feared being accused of collusion - Oftel is very strict on that. On the other hand they've come together around mobile marketing - introducing aa common code to prevent spam and common procedures for cutting off abusers of SMS. That's co-operation, not collusion.'WHAT MOBILE CONTENT?Aldridge: 'The great thing about mobile is that it's live. It's event based and that why it works so great with radio and why it doesn't work with a lot of television programmes because they are pre-recorded. It really comes into its own with live events.' Ward: 'If you want a debate you're not going to do it on SMS. You're better off with email. But if you're looking for an immediate vote, use SMS. You need to play to the strengths of each medium whether it's SMS, voice or internet.' Strange: 'That's why we've only come up with two main areas where SMS really works; discussion programmes and sports - both live.' Aldridge: 'Some producers know what they're doing with SMS - some don't.The thing about text is that you have to have it driving the central editorial of the show.Ideally, you should try to text people back. I don't think you need to say thank you but I think you need to extend the communication.But the models hovering around how you do that editorially are complicated. The World Cup is going to be a real challenge for the operators.' Ward: 'You only need to have one incident, such as 1998's Beckham kick, and the networks would be swamped and fall over.' Next-generation 3G mobile Wunker: 'For me, sitting at the intersection of broadcast and direct marketing, 3G is interesting. Imagine a colour screen with great video and great audio - it will make rich content come alive. But it's going to be very expensive initially and it has to be marketed in the right way - not in the way that Wap was (a form of mobile internet that was vastly inferior to PC-internet). From a TV perspective 3G could be used for viewers to send in video.' Ward: 'But how crap is the quality going to be?' Strange: 'If our experience over reverse billing and short codes is anything to go by, I don't think anything relating to 3G is going to happen particularly quickly.' Ward: 'Of course, 3G will have a place, but the worst thing any of us can do is believe the hype. There are all sorts of technical forecasts about how much bandwidth you're going to get and what it's going to cost.The last time we calculated it, delivering an average music track down GPRS would cost about #10 to #11 and that's before you've paid copyright.It's going to be several years before there is a critical mass of people using it.' Aldridge: 'As someone who works full time with mobiles, it's exciting, interesting but when it comes down to it, it's a long way off.'We've done some tests with MMS (multimedia messaging services which will enable pictures and audio to be texted) and it's actually incredibly poor quality.If you took a photo in this room you could just about make out there were five people here but you'd have difficulty making out faces. And you'd have difficulty putting it on a website let alone TV.' Ward: 'Let's focus on getting what we've got at the moment universal and easier to operate. Simplicity is a key issue.' Strange: 'Let's get a system that works across the networks and allows you to say, text in now, this is the cost.'Aldridge: 'My day-to-day focus is SMS. Can I get text into a show, yes or no? Can I talk back to people and can I get the volume? These are my key considerations. By the time we have sorted that, in the next year or two, we might be looking at MMS for the first time, then two years from that we might start thinking about 3G. In the meantime, I don't want to spend a lot of time talking to the technology companies and to the networks trying to work out how we text into a show. I just want a solution. Something that everyone else can use. And that's where the networks come in.'- The debate was chaired by freelance journalist Dominic TimmsNICK ALDRIDGE - BBCi development producer, emerging platforms.Aldridge's aim is to expand the use of mobile technology at the BBC. He successfully launched its Wap site and has worked on content for personal digital assistants (PDAs). Major projects include the production of all the new media elements on The Joy of Text, Walking with Beasts and a GCSE revision service. He has also worked on the new CBBC digital channel.SIMON WARD - Director of digital and new media for GWR and chief executive of its new media arm, ecast venturesGWR is one of the UK's largest radio groups - it owns Classic FM and a multitude of local stations in the UK and worldwide. Two years ago, Ward launched ecast. Last year he joined the boards of DRG, London's third commercial digital radio multiplex, and Now Digital, a holder of local digital radio multiplexes.STEVE WUNKER - Chief executive of Brainstorm Marketing SolutionsSteve Wunker heads wireless marketing at Brainstorm. He has chaired the Mobile Marketing Association since 2000 when it was set up. Previously he was programme director at Psion Computers, responsible for developing advanced mobile phones. He has also worked as a management consultant and for the UN development programme and the Soros Foundation.ADAM STRANGE - Head of new business, Channel 5Adam Strange's role entails finding and assessing alternative revenue streams for the channel. In particular, he is responsible for identifying opportunities for in-programme competitions and promotions and has recently taken a specific interest in the opportunities presented by premium rate SMS services.