Mobile Entertainment

WHISPER it, but there’s a renewed sense of optimism in the mobile adult content sector. Put simply, it’s being liberated from the shackles of the operator deck by a combination of flat rate data plans and genuine mobile search.

The low point of the last 12 months, at least in the North American market, was the decision by Canadian operator Telus to pull its adult offer following pressure from religious groups.

There was genuine fear that fallout from the decision was likely to be felt south of the border, where most of the big operators were weighing up the delicate decision as to when to go live with adult content.

As one well-placed source told ME at the time: “All the US operators want to be first to be second when it comes to launching adult content.”

That was in February and little has changed (see box). In the absence of a meaningful off-portal channel, the market for ‘adult’ content in the US remains strictly the preserve of bikini shots – big market in its own right for sure, but not what customers in the burgeoning online adult market are looking for.

But in Europe the picture is changing fast. The walled operator gardens are tumbling and the adult providers – after years of off-portal experience but relatively low visibility – are experiencing the joys of search.

Private Media Group, which has thus far focused its efforts on operator portals (launching an average of 10 services per quarter over the last two years) is preparing for an increased D2C push via distribution partner Mobile Streams.

“We generated two million euros in on-deck revenues alone in 2006, compared to 935,000 euros in 2005, but with Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft entering the mobile business with their search engines we believe there will now be a strong growth for the off-portal business,” says Tim Clausen, director of wireless technologies at Private.

Mobile Streams will use its Vuesia platform to manage the bidding on relevant keywords and present Private's content in mobile search results. Private’s first off-portal services are initially being launched in Europe, with other territories to follow before the end of the year.

Clint Fayling, president of Brickhouse Mobile, says the emergence of search and its impact on mobile adult services throws up parallels with the cable TV industry in the early 1990s.

“Any mobile search company will tell you that adult content is consistently the most popular query,” says Fayling. “While we all recognise the financial potential, however, questions still exist regarding the appropriate level of discretion and security. The cable TV industry eventually found its way, I'm sure the mobile industry will too.”

But what will happen to the big adult brands if, as Cherrysauce MD Julia Dimambro points out, the operator portals – which currently gravitate towards them – become a small collection of sponsored content and a big Google search box?

As Netcollex CEO Rob Johnson explains, the search-induced migration off-portal could have a great knock-on effect for specialist mobile adult content providers, as adult connoisseurs already tend not to choose products based on brand asociations alone.

“The general public is often conscious of the words Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler, but none of those brands have a sustained magazine sales presence in the UK market,” says Johnson. “Instead, the consumer thinks by model name and genre – stars like Jenna Jameson and Tera Patrick are universally popular and then you have all the Paris Hilton and Britney Spears paparazzi shots to make up the rest of the business,” he says.

Brickhouse encountered a similar trend and tailored its model accordingly, as Fayling explains: “We quickly found out that few adult brands resonated worldwide. In reaction, we have signed more celebrity models and aggregated more niches to stay in line with the ever-changing consumer taste.”

Private’s Clausen (pictured) is ready for the challenge. “Established adult entertainment brands such as Private will outperform mobile adult brands in the off-portal environment just as they have been doing on-deck,” he says.

“We are focused on alternative platforms for content distribution in the new media world. Compared to mobile adult brands we have the ability to market and cross-promote our mobile products across all of our distribution channels such as VOD/IPTV, wireless, internet, DVD and magazines.”

At the opposite end of the scale to these established brands lies UGC. Services like PeekabooTV, which shares revenues with uploaders, are growing fast while brands such as EMAP see more traffic from home made content than the pro stuff.