MEF has identified what members see as the biggest trends facing the mobile entertainment industry in 2009:
More about mobile entertainment, from a Nielsen report summarized by Mediabuyerplanner, shows that content from NBC and CBS is among the most popular with viewers of mobile video, with many tuning in to watch hour-long dramas, a format that was assumed unpopular with mobile viewers. NBC is drawing the largest audience to mobile, generating 1.8 million mobile video streams. Of those, 1.3 million were for full episodes of shows like Heroes and The Office.
Traditional shows are popular because they're familiar, says the report. Made-for-mobile shows, such as those CBS has had in development, are hard to find because mobile web users are less inclined to search aimlessly. Still, CBS is continuing to produce mobile series, and has scored with short Hollywood news segments.
Steve Andrade, general manager of NBC.com, says that "Long-form is doing better for us than short form and... we're surprised... "
Nielsen estimates that 10.3 million mobile phone subscribers, 5% of the cell phone population, access video via their phone each month. M:Metrics' most recent survey shows that just 7.5 million users watched video in a given month.
"As smartphones continue to drop in price, and new entrants impress consumers," says comScore, "mobile internet penetration and engagement will continue to soar..."
For more about mobile entertainment trends from MEF, please visit here, or from mediabuyerplanner, visit here.