Football, mobile phones and bird watching

October 31st, 2004

Premier League downloads could answer 3G operators' prayer reported the Financial Times

When Vodafone officially launches its 3G service on November 10, it will showcase a wide array of new services designed to persuade its customers to spend more money on their mobile phones.
Vodafone is likely to offer many whizzy new services, from restaurant guides and news video clips to colour interactive maps. But one of its flagship services on 3G is likely to be football.
Along with 3, the new entrant mobile operator controlled by Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa, Vodafone last year secured exclusive rights to show highlights of Premier League matches on handsets.
The three-season deal, which began at the start of the current football season, is thought to have cost the two operators tens of millions of pounds each. And early signs are that football is one of the most popular services on 3G phones.
In August, on the first day of the football season, 3's 1.2m customers downloaded 400,000 football video match highlights, the equivalent of one download for every three users. Since then, football regularly appears in the top three most popular downloads for 3 customers, vying with games and music videos for the weekly number one spot.

At the same time the Observer reported today TV viewers switch off Premiership

TV audiences for live Premiership football matches have fallen to their lowest level for 10 years. The average number of viewers watching each game so far this season has dropped to 1.048 million, a 16 per cent fall over the same period last year, sparking fears that the recent decline in people paying to attend games is being mirrored among armchair viewers.
The figures – collected by the British Audience Research Bureau, which measures total numbers of viewers – show a 23 per cent decline on last season's overall average of 1.356 million viewers a game. They are also the lowest average since 1994-95, when broadcasts involving England's top 20 clubs drew audiences of 973,000.

Different kick-off times introduced in August for the broadcaster's benefit, at 12.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturdays, have recorded some of the lowest audiences.
What is going on then? Mobile operators are staking their future of 3G with football? The evidence supports that there is significant interest.
But as we have said so many times the mobile phone can connect so many different communities of interest. Consider bird watching.
14% of the Finnish population is into birdwatching that is 720,000 people. There are 27 birdwatchers clubs and societies across Finland. The Twitchers UNion as developed a text-messaging system to alert members when a rare species is discovered. Members can select messages by species or geographical location.
And for example 5,000 birdwatchers recently gathered in Viiki, within 60 minutes of a sighting of a male Grey-headed woodpecker.
So, mobile operators don't forget the bird watchers, what could you do for them on 3G or the Fishing crazies. Its not just Premiership goals where you future revenue will come from.

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