Mobile500 Alliance Demonstrates First Complete Mobile Digital TV Consumer Product

Product features include interactive advertising, audience measurement, social media integration and closed captioning

LAS VEGAS — This week at the 2012 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show, the Mobile500 Alliance, a broadcast consortium comprised of 50 member companies covering 94 percent of television households, detailed the business model and enhanced features for Mobile DTV, including new interactive advertising and an improved user experience that features social media integration with Twitter and closed captioning for the hearing impaired.

The Mobile500 Alliance has created the first end to end solution for live mobile TV that delivers free over the air television to mobile devices and allows broadcasters to quickly monetize their investment. Broadcasting remains uniquely positioned to deliver video to viewers on the go as demand for mobile video continues to grow. The Alliance’s business model incorporates features that appeal to consumers and broadcasters:

• Interactive advertising,
• Audience measurement,
• Conditional access for premium content,
• Social media integration,
• Closed captioning,
• Live viewing,
• Recording live TV, and
• Video-on-demand.

“We are keenly focused on delivering broadcast television to consumers when they want it and where they want it,” said Colleen Brown, chair of the Mobile500 Alliance board of directors and president and CEO of Fisher Communications, Inc. “Providing stations with advertising and audience data to evaluate their investment in Mobile DTV is a big step in the overall development of this new broadcast technology.”

Steve Lanzano, president of the Television Bureau of Advertising said, “Consumers spend more time with television than any other medium and they overwhelmingly want the ability to watch live programming on their mobile devices. Advertisers are beginning to see Mobile DTV as the next great marketing opportunity.”

Mobile DTV Monetizes Through Existing Business Models

The involvement of Rentrak and Nielsen to provide audience measurement data for Mobile DTV is integral to monetizing the platform. “We’re thrilled to provide our census-based approach to measuring both on-demand and linear television to the Mobile500 Alliance trial,” said Cathy Hetzel, corporate president at Rentrak. “Mobile500 members will be able to quickly monetize viewing of local programming via the mobile platform and many of them already subscribe to Rentrak’s StationView Essentials service which enhances their ability to provide cumulative ratings to advertisers.”

With audience measurement from the ratings services, stations will realize a lift in ratings allowing them to realize a greater return on currently broadcast programs.

“Nielsen is pleased to start work with the Alliance to measure usage of this emerging medium,” stated Patrick Dineen, senior vice president, Nielsen. “Quality measurement will enable broadcasters to monetize this new market and we will work hand-in-hand with the industry to provide the information and insights our clients need to conduct business.”

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For broadcasters, this platform provides advanced advertising capabilities that engage viewers with interactive functionality, video pre-roll and dynamic clickable banners. The interactive campaign will feature the ability to request a test drive along with video galleries, lead generation, dealer locators, social media integration and more. This will be the first national advertiser featured during the Mobile500 trials in Seattle and Minneapolis this summer. Accelerated Media is partnering with the Mobile500 Alliance to sell and serve the interactive advertising on Mobile DTV stations across the country. This provides a means to monetize the app and to serve interstitial ads between channel changes. Member stations will share in national advertising revenue and have the opportunity to sell pre-roll advertising prior to local VOD content.

“As more viewers connect their TVs and mobile devices to the Internet, broadcasters have more options to create new revenue-generating opportunities through iTV advertising,” said Accelerated Media President and CTO Doug McGary. “Our partnership with the Mobile500 Alliance marks the importance of creating viewer involvement that leads to deeper engagement and higher levels of brand recall, purchase intent and product sales.”

Additionally, Mobile500 Alliance will support conditional access by allowing broadcasters to encrypt content delivered over the spectrum. Broadcasters have the flexibility to utilize conditional access only when and if needed, and it is transparent to the user. The addition of conditional access will permit possible integration with other mobile services planned for launch in the U.S. Conditional access is necessary for the addition of subscription channels and pay per view VOD.

“We are excited to provide the technology framework to support the launch of the first commercial mobile DTV service in the United States,” said Tim Dodd, vice president and general manager, Neustar Media. “We remain highly committed to our work with the Mobile500 Alliance to ensure that consumers can truly experience seamless and secure digital broadcast television on their mobile devices.”

Mobile DTV Gets Social

The app has incorporated Twitter into the viewing experience allowing consumers to read and send tweets while watching mobile digital television.

For viewers who are hearing impaired or are in a location where they cannot have the sound on, Mobile DTV offers closed captioning that can be easily engaged with one click.

These developments advance the Mobile500 Alliance demonstration featured at the Consumer Electronics Show on January 8, 2012.