The Road Not Yet Taken

With the recent revelation of wireless carriers minimizing entertainment publishing partners, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that many publishers and developers of mobile entertainment will soon either be squeezed out of the market or find themselves having to work with a middleman in order to find on-deck space.  After all, through the carriers is where the bread and butter of the mobile entertainment industry lies but as it continues to gain traction with on-the-go consumers, more and more are also looking at a different approach, that is, off-deck direct-to-consumer portals.

 In an industry that is expected to grow to over $1.1 Billion by 2009 according to Jupiter Research, and with development costs beginning to break into million dollar amounts, developers and publishers are keeping an eye, and in many times, signing with companies such as Playphone, Thumbplay and Jamster to help recover these costs and get more of the pie.  What these companies offer is the ability to sell mobile entertainment content directly to the mobile consumer via online portals and it was a topic of discussion during one of the mobile sessions at the recently concluded Game Developers Conference.

The Road Not Taken: Alternative Channels to Tier-1 Distribution had panelists from these D2C companies discussing ways in which developers can get their games directly to consumers without using the traditional mobile operator methods. They addressed the advantages and the challenges of off-deck distribution, and while there wasn’t full resolve over a perfect solution, the debate soon turned as to the merits of White Label strategies.  Afterwards, it was clear that the way in which they each approached this would ultimately affect the industry as a whole.

Thumbplay and Jamster, for example, license mobile entertainment content and sell to the consumer through their own developed web portal.  Thumplay furthermore allows subscribers to store, share and manage their content online.  (Some might say that the problem here is that if subscribers can store and share, there’s a possibility of losing revenue when new handsets are acquired.)  Both of these companies do not offer white label portals and do not plan on having any soon, meaning that anyone in a distribution agreement with them meets with only the success and sales of customers who go directly to these two portals.  That’s it. 

Playphone on the other hand, while it also maintains its own portal, believes in the benefit of white label destinations, with the ability to empower licensees with their own direct channels, as well as providing a larger distribution base for the content.  In fact, it already successfully powers portals for mobile entertainment companies like Cartoon Network and I-play, as well as traditional brick and mortar heavyweight Wal-Mart. 

Again, it doesn’t take the same rocket scientist to figure out which one of these distribution methods will ultimately prove to be the most helpful and successful for the licensee as well as the entire industry.  Playphone’s turnkey approach not only broadens the outreach and visibility of off-deck offerings through a wider net, but keeps brands secured by allowing their respective owners to maintain overall control through their own portal.

Still, time will tell how the mobile entertainment industry eventually overcomes the looming changes and gets past the dreaded 5% penetration.  If mobile entertainment is to continue growing, it seems the burden will fall squarely on the shoulders of the content providers to continue seeking ways to reach their intended audience and off-deck turnkey solutions such as Playphone’s are a great way to start.