Rich media mobile advertising will reach $2.79 billion by 2012, with 87 percent of it running on mobile TV, according to Screen Digest’s Mobile Media Advertising report, released last week.
The report, which covered advertising in 25 countries, sees it selling best in Japan and South Korea, where mobile TV is free. In North American and European markets, most consumers pay their carriers for it, although broadcast opportunities like MediaFlo are free. When the content is free, there’s an 800 percent increase in viewers, said Julien Theys, a research analyst at Screen Digest.
The most popular forms of ad supported content are short-form clips from network TV shows. News and weather clips are also popular because “they generate repeated viewing and the daily information yields a lot of impressions,” Theys said. Sports content is also popular, but much of it is sold in premium packages, so it doesn’t generate much ad revenue.
The biggest barrier to selling mobile video advertising is the lack of mobile metrics. “If you don’t have the metrics, the audience is estimated within a general TV audience, so advertisers can’t consider it on a stand-alone basis,” he said. “There are no specific metrics for AT&T and Verizon.”
Actor Gene Hackman, Wife Betsy Arakawa and Their Dog Were Dead For Some Time, Warrant Shows
Oscar-winner Gene Hackman, his wife and one of their dogs were apparently dead for some time before a maintenance worker discovered their bodies at the couple's Santa Fe home, according to investigators. Hackman, 95, was found dead Wednesday in a mudroom and his 63-year-old wife, Betsy Arakawa, was found in a bathroom next to a space heater, Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office detectives wrote in a search warrant. There was an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on a countertop near Arakawa. Denise Avila, a sheriff's office spokesperson, said there was no indication they had been shot or had any wounds. The New Mexico Gas Co. tested the gas lines in and around the home after the bodies were discovered, according to the warrant. At the time, it didn't find any signs of problems and the Fire Department found no signs of a carbon monoxide leak or poisoning. A sheriff's detective wrote that there were no obvious signs of a gas leak, but he noted that people exposed to gas leaks or carbon monoxide might not show signs of poisoning. The gruff-but-beloved Hackman was among the best actors of his generation, appearing as villains, heroes and antiheroes in dozens of dramas, comedies and action films from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s. "He was loved and admired by millions around the world for his brilliant acting career, but to us he was always just Dad and Grandpa. We will miss him sorely and are devastated by the loss," his daughters and granddaughter said in a statement Thursday. Worker found bodies of Hackman and his wife A maintenance worker reported that the home's front door was open when he arrived to do routine work on Wednesday, and he called police after finding the bodies, investigators said. He and... Read More