BtoB Media Business covers five technologies to which media companies should pay attention.
The article leads - Technology alone may not make or break a media company, but it's certainly one of the most important pieces in the modern-day publishing puzzle. Media Business asked a handful of industry executives about technologies that are changing—or will soon change—the media landscape and how publishers can best take advantage of these advances
I had the opportunity to add a few comments about the mobile future.
Colin Crawford, exec VP-interactive at IDG Communications, said that while it may still be a few years premature, mobile will provide social network opportunities. For instance, Crawford envisions a scenario in the not-too-distant future in which an attendee at a conference such as MacWorld could look at his phone and see that there are 10 other passionate Mac users from his network within half a mile of him. More advanced visual communications such as video mail also will come, he said, though again, it might be a while.
“Some of this is early .... but in the next two to five years, mobile is going to surge forward,” he said. “As publishers, we're going to have to get our heads around exactly what is the right type of content to serve up to our users through various mobile devices. I don't believe it's a replica of ... the Web. I believe that we'll have to develop specific content and display it in the right way.”
My sentiments are echoed by Informa Telecoms and Media
"True mobile advertising does not exist today; what we are referring to is 'advertising on mobile.' When mobile advertising combines user profiling, location and communication with unique mobile inventory, the industry can justify charging a premium rate over existing immeasurable advertising channels."
Mobile revenue streams remain in their infancy but media companies should allocate resources to understand the platform, how their users consume mobile content and what service and applications they need to develop for their mobile audiences in the future. The revenues today don't justify massive investment but the same argument was used back in 1993/94 when online was nascent. Ultimately the mobile opportunities will outstrip today's online revenue opportunities - balancing short-term early investments with the potential long-term opportunities is key.
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