• by Steve Smith , Staff Writer @popeyesm, June 22, 2005

The new Playstation Portable (PSP) game/multimedia player may come from one of the biggest media conglomerates, but it's got grassroots already growing from its polished, too-sexy-for-my-pocket exterior. Sony sold 600,000 units and millions of games in the first few days of the unit's release, and anticipates shipping 15 million PSPs worldwide in the next year.

The product has also begun to drive surprisingly strong sales of full-length movies (such as "Hellboy," and "Kill Bill") on the new Universal Media Disc (UMD) mini-disc format.

So will the PSP become a bona fide content platform for media companies and perhaps marketers? Both AtomFilms and ABC News announced downloadable PSP video clips. "Wherever there is a screen, there is a potential viewer of ABC News," says Bernie Gershon, senior vice president/general manager of ABC News Digital. And a potential viewer of nude women apparently, because pretty much on cue Playboy issued a Cyber Playmate slideshow for the PSP.

The most interesting game for marketers to play on the PSP may be in the sponsored and branded content arena. Sony's first official partner for downloadable PSP video is multimedia entertainment provider Heavy.com, which is providing downloadable packs of its short-form video in PSP formats. The mini shows are free to PSPers and sponsored by Unilever's Axe brand, which is also putting its own branded entertainment series, "Evan and Gareth," in the downloadable packs.

The PSP's killer content combination may lie in wireless Internet access, however. The device already has Wi-Fi built in, but Sony hasn't given U.S. owners the browser to exploit it fully. When Koreans get their PSPs this summer, the unit will come with browser software and a free month of hot-spot access. Marketing that bundle here, and downloading content to your PSP could become as habitual as, well, going to a Wi-Fi enabled Starbucks for a caffeine fix.