Mobile Adult content was not being properly addressed in the United States. Such is the belief of LR Clinton Fayling, president of Brickhouse Mobile, and his three partners.
So, in the middle of 2004, the four of them left mainstream mobile content and formed Brickhouse, to focus exclusively on branding Adult companies through mobile means in the home of Adult entertainment.
The company has recently announced a deal to provide mobile services for cable TV/web content provider New Frontier Media and has deals in place with four other companies – all major players in their respective realms of the industry.
And while the U.S. mobile content industry is growing, it still lags behind places like Europe and South America, particularly in Adult.
Fayling recently took some time to discuss the present and future of mobile content in the U.S. with AVNOnline.com.
AVN Online: Why did you decide to jump into Adult and put all of your focus on it?
Clinton Fayling: It was a scenario that we watched intently and quite frankly, when I was on the mainstream side, I was trying to make plays internally to get involved in the space. I was frustrated by the lack of commitment from my company and partners to at least try something in the space, while at the same time recognizing that no one else was really making a substantial play. I left my previous company to focus in on this specific niche, which if history teaches us anything, we know what Adult has done to drive the Internet. To me, the mobile phone is another form of the Internet. In fact, it is the Internet, so it would be foolish to think that the impact that happened with the Internet won’t happen on the mobile phone.
AVN Online: It would seem that the full impact of mobile hasn’t been felt yet in the U.S. What do you think the timetable for that is and where do you think we are right now in relation to the full potential of this platform?
CF: There are certain markets at the forefront of offering Adult content and other markets, such as the U.S. that are lagging behind. Obviously in the European markets Adult content is being offered freely. It is doing very well in that market. Following behind that, the opportunity is in South America. You’re seeing a lot of great things in Adult content.
In the U.S. market, we are working at the level of carrier comfort at this point. What can be offered here is not nudity. It is titillating wallpaper images and things of that nature. The key is to work within the confines of the carrier and not be a renegade, continue to try to work with the carriers to establish what the guidelines will be, not only today, but six months from now, a year from now or two years from now. As evidenced by what’s happened in the cable industry, you know that line will move. It’s just a matter of when and where. We’re not here to pressure the carriers. We’re here to work with them to make sure everything’s done appropriately and everyone in the end is happy. To me, the happiest thing for me will be when we can offer everything offered on the Internet through the phone.
AVN Online: You would think that something already established as appropriate for the Internet would also be so for mobile phones. How come in the U.S. we’re starting further back – where you can only show so much?
CF: I can only answer that up to a certain point because I’m left with the same questions as well. It is a little odd how there are boundaries that have been pushed in one medium that don’t apply to another. The biggest concern obviously are things like age verification – making sure this content doesn’t end up in inappropriate hands. We’re very cognizant of that.
We want to make sure we play the game right – that we help to drive standards and provide recommendations and work within the rules to push the line. As far as why that has not occurred at a more rapid rate – a lot of this has been subjectively left up to the carriers. It would be similar if AOL were establishing content standards (for the Internet). That’s not their job. Now, I’m not going to sit here and say that’s not the carriers’ job either, because obviously they’re beholden to their customers and certain carriers are going to be more conservative than others based on their customer base. Right now, the way the game is set up, carriers are establishing those rules. We have to play that game. Certain carriers might jump out and offer to move that line much quicker than others. Some carriers may never, but my feeling is at some point in time, obviously if you have a customer base demanding it, you have to acquiesce to that demand on some level.
AVN Online: What are you doing with New Frontier and what kind of content will they offer?
CF: With New Frontier Media, obviously you’re familiar with their brand. They’re a very well known cable network that touches 72 million cable TV sets throughout the country. Obviously, they also have their web site. Their strength is video on wallpapers, so that’s what we’re looking to accentuate. Our philosophy as a company is to take a boutique approach. We’re not looking to simply just take raw content, strip out their brand and offer it throughout the world – to be that generic offering that offers little impact or assistance in furthering New Frontier’s efforts to further establish their brand. What we do is we take content such as video and wallpapers. We include and in fact, make sure that the TEN brand is at the forefront of that offering. In turn, we not only offer that content as the strength of their core offering, but we also offer within any mobile application the ability to cross promote or push people back to their core properties, whether it be the Internet site or to promote their cable channels. That could come via alerts, special offers on the web site for discounted memberships or things of that nature. Really, the play here is two-fold, to sell content and to promote their core properties. That’s our approach with everyone we work with.
AVN Online: Is branding mobile content different than traditional delivery methods like Internet or television?
CF: Obviously, depending on the reach or the market you’re working with, you have to be less suggestive than you could be on the Internet or on TV. When we speak of branding in particular, what I’m talking about is literally every wallpaper we sell (for New Frontier) will have that TEN logo on it. When you think of impact, we’re putting a brand in the hands of the consumer 24 hours a day, if they choose to have that wallpaper on their phone. That’s an opportunity that’s very powerful and very much unique in that there aren’t many opportunities to put a brand in front of someone on a continuing basis. By having people subscribe to a monthly service and offering the opportunity to send additional offers via that phone – that’s the one device that every person has that you can now touch them with. Versus a PC or a cable channel, a phone is something that’s highly personal. One person is getting that phone bill. There’s not anyone looking over your shoulder when you’re at work looking at your phone. There are ways to make that a truly one-to-one experience.
AVN Online: How much support is there for video and are there quality issues?
CF: If you watch much TV lately, you’ll see there’s quite a proliferation of ads for guys like Verizon and Cingular and so forth talking about their video services. In the case of Verizon, they have their V Cast service where you pay a monthly subscription and you get two-minute clips. Obviously, the frame rate isn’t at the point that you would enjoy if you were watching TV or even the Internet, but the gap is closing quickly. By some estimates bandwidth issues with video will not be a concern as early as 2006. As to whether that will be a reality or not is anyone’s guess, but that’s what the talk is. That being said, the frame rate varies just like it does if you would make a phone call. Sometimes that phone call drops and sometimes you have full bars.
When we talk about video, we’re not talking about 30-minute videos or anything of that nature. We’re talking about short snippets of video anywhere from 30 seconds to a couple of minutes. It’s really finding where the customer taste is. If the customer is asking for longer-format videos, obviously we can offer that, but when you talk about a phone there are bandwidth issues on some level whether it is in Los Angeles or the middle of Iowa. There will always be a situation where whether you can handle that video feed or not is going to be subjective. With networks being built out in the U.S. to a much greater level with the mergers that have happened, it can only improve.
AVN Online: Is there a dominant end-user payment method yet?
CF: There are a few different ways you can go about doing that. Our partner for processing is one of the best-known and most-respected companies in the Adult space and that is DHD Media.
When we talk about paying for content, it really depends on the market too. When you talk about European or South American opportunities, that can be billed right to the carrier, where you simply buy the content, it drops on your phone bill and you pay for it at the end of the month. When we talk about content in the U.S., that is traditionally the way content is purchased for mainstream content, but when you talk about Adult content, obviously there are some barriers still there. So we’ll present the opportunity for you to pay for the content via someone’s web site or they can pay on their phone – literally putting a credit card number into their phone.
AVN Online: Are we closing the gap at all, in the Adult space, on the rest of the world?
CF: Obviously, we can point at the traditional obstacles that have fallen in our path – anything from George Bush to Janet Jackson. In the culture we live in, Adult content is highly accessible, whether it is on the Internet or on TV, so I think it’s just a matter of time. The carriers are controlling the content at this point. I’m fine with that, but it’s different than if a Comcast or Adelphia was trying to control (cable TV content). It’s a different game.
It’s the nature of where the market is now. I think with the mergers occurring over the past year, I think we’re in a highly intense period of carriers being competitive and content becoming a compelling play. At some point you’re going to see that line move to an extent where new content will be offered. It’s not going to happen tomorrow, but it could happen in a year, it could happen in six months or it could happen in two years, depending on what carrier you’re talking about. Once we close the gap, it will be fully closed.
