Mondo Media’s
Happy Tree
Mobile
continued from page 42
trying to figure out how to create a
viable business model. Typically, carriers
and content publishers share reve-
nues on a 50/50 basis, with
pub- lishers then splitting their
por- tion with content
creators. But total revenues
are small. “It’s a good time to
be creative, but it’s a lousy
time to get paid,” says
Chindamo.
“The mobile video
LICENSING
market is still an emerging
market,” Witt agrees. “At
this point content
providers are cre- ating a
Simplicity Sells
beachhead.”
Asia and Europe are
ahead of North
Ameri- ca in mobile
video, both
technically and
culturally. “Put it
this way: There are
1.1 million users
of mobile video in
the
U.S. right now, and 70
million in Japan alone,”
says Chindamo. For that
reason, content providers
should make sure their
content translates to a
global market. “The sim-
pler the better. Simple
concept, simple
animation, and short.”
Mobile content tends to
be promoted more
heavily abroad. In the
U.S., most promotional
activity oc- curs on the
handset itself; in other
countries, “off- deck”
promotion
44 February is com-
2006
Friends
mon. Mondo Media has licensed its
prop- erty Happy Tree Friends to
several mobile companies in Europe for
downloadable episodes, wallpapers,
ringtones and Java games, and
recently Matt Hantau,
VP of licensing at Signatures
Network, Inc., the worldwide li-
censing agent for Happy Tree
Friends, negotiated a partner-
ship with Starwave for the U.S.
market. In Europe, reports Mon-
do CEO John Evershed, the con-
tent was promoted on MTV Inter-
national, where the Happy Tree
Friends TV show airs. Ads
featured a text code that enabled
the user to immediately make a
transaction
Nelvana’s
The
Backyardigans
ANIMATION
MAGAZINE
for a game or anima-
tion clip. “That call to
action really drives
game sales,” he says,
noting that a Happy
Tree Friends title
was among the top
four European mobile Paul Comben
games last summer.
Many content pro-
viders advise treating
the mobile phone as
part of an overall en-
tertainment strategy,
linked to online and
on-air exposure, John Evershed
rather than a stand-
alone
platform. “We look at them all as
integrat- ed media platforms,” Locker
explains. “Mo- bile is great, but we
want it to be integrat- ed into our
strategy. It’s the next conver- gence
platform.”
theThe main market
mobile thing totoday
remember about
is that it’s
ever-changing. “It’s really dynamic at
the moment,” reports Evershed. “Even
the major carriers would say it’s a mov-
ing target and that things are just
con-
stantly evolving.”
Still, now is the time to
get involved. “If you get
in now, you have a much,
much better chance of
be- ing a leader,” says
Chinda- mo. “Once the
technology is perfected,
the market will be too
crowded.” ■ Karen
apolis-based
business
Raugust
writer is a Minne-
specializing in
ani- mation,
publishing,
censing and art. She is
li-
the author of The
Licens- ing Business
Handbook (EPM
Communications).
www.animationmagazine.net