US looks for Asian model for media-mobile marriage

A recent meeting of media and marketing executives, held in New York, affirmed that the cellphone would be the principal agent for whetting the appetite for media in the future. But the panelists conceded that, at present, the US was not as prepared as Asia to serve that need.

A Paley Center for Media International Council meeting pondered "Monetizing the Mobile Landscape', with most panelists agreeing that Japan, Korea, and China provided an appropriate model for an effective strategy.

For instance, Peggy Johnson, Qualcomm's executive vice-president of the Americas and India, pointed out that consumers in Japan could use cellphones for cashless purchases of goods or services. And the president and CEO of Mediabrands, Nick Brien, described how McDonald's had sponsored a concert in Japan and made it accessible only on wireless devices.

The majority of the panelists concurred on the question of the prerequisites for monetizing the cellphone promise. They included reliable wireless networks; systems that facilitated payments through mobile phones; and an easy-to-access platform on which media companies could connect to subscribers.

Some observers have responded to the key resolutions of the meeting by suggesting that the US may not be too far behind in the race to integrate media with mobile phones.

Indeed, a research carried out in the third quarter of this year by Nielsen has revealed some fascinating insights. One finding is that those who own Android phones in the US tended to use data features on the device more often than they would have on other smartphones.

Moreover, in the second quarter, there were 15.3 million mobile-video viewers (accounting for 7% of all US cellphone users), the Nielsen survey indicated.