Adult content and gambling seem to be mentioned together often these days. The two vices traditionally are big moneymakers — first in the real world, then online, and next, according to people who study these things, on mobile devices. Both also represent sensitive issues and present moral, ethical, cultural and political hurdles in abundance not only for networks, but also for content providers.
A Gartner Dataquest report released last fall predicted mobile access to online gambling and adult content will be available in most regions of the world by 2009, after multiple regulatory and legal restrictions are overcome. Gartner’s gurus expect mobile gambling to be “one of the big drivers of consumer use of mobile data services in the next five years,” because “the immediacy and perceived anonymity of the Internet is increased when use is transferred to the mobile phone.” Sports betting, lotteries and casino games all are expected to be big winners on the mobile gambling front, as long as providers bear in mind that “mobile gambling is not primarily about gambling for huge cash returns. It is a fun way to pass time while, for example, waiting for a bus. … Gartner sees mobile content being consumed in small, frequent chunks.” In order to draw in consumers, placing bets has to be easy, Java-enabled handsets must be available, high-quality small-screen rendering is essential, personalization is key and incentives for users will become more important as competition increases.
The same basic parameters will define mobile pornography, according to Gartner. While it probably will not be as big an economic engine as gambling in the mobile realm, pornography still will be a strong driver of mobile revenues, and that’s particularly important for cellcos. Positive financial effects already are being seen in Europe and Asia, where adult content is offered “on deck” (by the cellcos themselves) as well as by independent facilitators.
“Despite restrictive laws and regulations, we expect pornography to be a very good seller on the mobile Internet, as it has been on the Internet,” the Gartner report noted. “Its convenience, addictive element and the intimacy of the small screen will help ensure this. We expect Websites to offer mobile extensions of their Internet content.”
Statistics so far are impressive:
• Thirty percent of the content offered in Germany by content delivery platform Bango is available only to adults (18 and older).
• In France, mobile operator SFR reported that 56 percent of the searches on its portal are for adult content.
• Vodafone UK said 37 percent of the searches on its portal are for adult content.
• While some Asia-Pacific nations (Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, for example) ban the distribution of pornography in all its many forms, cellcos in those countries do not block users from accessing adult material “off deck.” While the operators receive no revenue directly from the content, they have seen an increase in MMS and mobile data revenues. The same is true in India.
• Vodafone and 3 realize significant revenues from on-deck adult content in Australia, as does SmarTone in Hong Kong.
In the near term, especially in the U.S., perhaps the most significant role for mobile content will be in branding. Playboy, a branding powerhouse in adult for nearly half a century, has partnered with Dwango Wireless to offer a combination of adult content and gambling in the U.S.: Playboy-branded, PG-rated, just-for-fun casino games. In Europe, which seems less subject to the morality police than the U.S., the company has been a bit more aggressive, offering its top-shelf adult content to all of mobile operator 3’s markets since January 2004.
Gartner made several interesting recommendations in its report. “Carriers should work with industry associations and government regulators to bring gambling and pornography to the mobile Internet,” the authors stated boldly. In regions where on-deck distribution of erotica is unlikely to receive social and governmental approval, “carriers should consider moving adult content and gaming to third-party off-portal vendors and mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs).” Not surprisingly, because gambling and porn generate intense traffic and, by doing so, pique the interest of hackers and other malcontents, “carriers … should prepare for the sort of ‘denial-of-service’ attacks [called “SMS storms” in the mobile space] experienced by Websites offering such content,” Gartner warned. The company also warned that, “if online gambling or pornography fees are charged to cell phone accounts, carriers should expect an increase in disputed charges.”
Kathee “Queen of the Vices” Brewer is editor at large for AVN Online. Send your mobile news and opinions to her at [email protected].
