Media Week

In mobile, as in any other sector, a downturn – if you have the cash – is the best time to be buying.

Sir Martin Sorrell is a name it’s always far too easy to drop. Nonetheless, here we go, CLANG! When I interviewed him a couple of years ago his view on whether there would be another dotcom ‘crash’ was simple: “If there is, we’ll view it as an opportunity to buy.”

The long-term trend in digital, as he’d not failed to identify, was up and up some more so any time a dip came along it was a chance to pick up routes to growth and expertise while prices were lower.

Mobile is also a dead cert for long-term growth and it's also gathering pace just as online was (through the rise of search) when the last crash came upon us. When things get back on a more even keel, some more substance will have been added to its device-led style, which means any investments made now (think mobile search, TV and applications) will look very wise in a couple of years’ time.

One example is how the networks are using the global downturn to pick up networks for good prices in emerging markets. Three of the biggest (Norway's Telenor, Japan’s NTT DoCoMo, and United Arab Emirates-based Etisalat) have already invested in India where mobile ownership is still only 25%. Another is News Corp's acquisition of Jamba that we talked about a few weeks ago.

Any recession is a real horror because it helps to widen further the gap between rich and poor. If, for example, I had a wad of cash to spare, I’d be scooping up houses at low prices (and low rates of interest) ready to generate further wads when the market rebounds. The media industry’s rich - and there are still a few - should look to do the same in mobile.

There’s a telling difference between the web and mobile that leaves us in the dark about how content on the mobile web will be paid for.

That difference is that the web had free content as its foundation. That legacy has been incredibly hard to break for even the most determined and premium content brands.

However, on mobile, a culture of paying for content already exists. Here we have ringtones and screensavers – what the mobile industry calls ‘personalisation’ – to thank, if not for much else.

So the question is which of these mindsets will prevail when people seek content from the web on their mobiles.

Naturally, the answer must be both. As long as mobile operators help the industry use their billing systems to enable easy payment, we can expect people to be happy to pay where content is unique and valuable enough and prepared to accept advertising where it’s not.

That will lead to three types of model: one, where top-class content is entirely paid-for; two, where middle-ranking content is part paid and part ad-supported; and, three, fully ad-funded bargain basement stuff.

The current platform of mobile content revenues shouldn’t be deserted now that the web proper is arriving in our pockets. Instead, content owners should see it as a new opportunity to reap the rewards they deserve.

http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/866719/T-Mobile-offers-ad-funded-gaming/