CANNES: Those skeptical about the entertainment value of Mobile TV will soon have to eat their words. The fact is that even as you read, there are hundreds, probably thousands of small and large companies with teams dedicated to Mobile TV working hard at creating compelling, engaging content. And if a majority of the entries screened at the first Mipcom Mobile TV Awards are an indication, then surely the fun has just begun.
Hosted by Ray Coke who was, if not more, funny than Julian Clary at the DVD awards yesterday, the mobile TV awards were awarded in five categories including best made for mobile TV content, best repurposed video / film/ animation content for mobile, best mobile TV channel or service, best user interface for a mobile TV channel / program guide and the audience best of show. Additionally there was a special award from Orange for most Innovative Idea.
The Awards were exec produced by Mediaplay International (UK) President Ferhan Cook and the Grand jury consisted of BBC Head of Interactive, Drama and Entertainment (UK) Sophie Walpole, Alacatel’s VP for Mobile Media Worldwide Matt West, Producer Frederic Fougea, Rai TV head for ITV content factory Nicoletta Iacobacci, The Interactive Channel (Hong Kong) founder Robert Chua and Nokia Multimedia Global VP Mark Selby who chaired the jury.
The following are the winners
Best made for mobile TV content
Smash Bean
Cinema Electric (US), Genre (Youth Entertainment)
Best repurposed video / film/ animation content for mobile
Brain Food: Glowing Mice
Scien Central Inc (US), Genre : Factual
Best mobile TV channel or service
Dateline
Yoo Media Mobile, Genre: Lifestyle /Community
Best user interface for a mobile TV channel / program guide
Label! Studio TV
Universal Mobile Music, Genre : Mobile Programme Guide /Interface
Audience best of show
Pete Tong’s Fast Trax
Inventa Productions (UK), Genre : Music
Orange Innovative Idea Award
Desperate Housewives – Recaps
BVITV EMEA (UK), Genre : Drama
Amongst the main criteria while judging the nominations were, usage of interactivity with content, freshness and innovation of concept and ease of user experience.
Prior to the awards ceremony, all the nominations for the awards were screened with the nominees and jury sharing some views with the audience. An interesting screening was Asian Weather by Japanese company Weathernews Inc. The content used the metaphor of weather to link the oriental countries with each other in a very interesting way.
Another interesting content was ClickFree TV by Mobix Interactive UK. The emphasis was on speed of usage and Mobix CEO Matt Heiman pointed out, “When I was small mother used to not encourage me surfing the TV as it would reduce my attention span. Today we are dealing with a generation that’s used to surfing and texting at blazing speeds and speed is something that will be critical in getting them hooked.”
The most refreshing thing about mobile TV is due to it being new and hence not yet completely structured, there are a lot of creative and interesting content concepts that are being played with. And as developers, speed up in their efforts at providing lots of choice, quick easy navigation and fresh concepts mobile TV looks all seems to have begun its journey.