Telco’s buying into classifieds – BT buys Ufindus.com

The classified industry is in a constant flux. Classified content has become a very fluid currency, globally aggregated and syndicated by companies such as Oodle Inc. Classified revenues stream from one owner to the other. Traditional publishers saw free online classified companies starting up and moving payments away from consumers to brand advertisers, sponsoring their platforms. And yet another force is entering the classified space: telco’s!

Telco’s own the communication, be it mobile or fixed line. Telco’s own the content distribution, via their ISP portals or mobile portals such as Vodafone Live! or Orange World. Telco’s own the consumers and know their behavior and their preferences, and are constantly crunching demographic data preparing for advertising sales, both online and mobile. The telco’s are in the market to buy online and mobile advertising inventories.

Whether it is Vodafone, Belgacom, France Telecom or BT, we will see a lot of M&A activity from telco companies buying their way into the classified space. BT is setting the pace acquiring classifieds and directory company Ufindus for £20 million in cash (see article). Earlier this year, Kapaza was sold for €20M to Schibsted, but we are aware that at least one telco wanted to acquire Kapaza before it got into the hands of a large media group.

Conclusion: more pressure on traditional publishers trying to protect their classified revenues and advertising inventories…… but this time it is not hundreds of small online startups, but a global army of cash-rich telco giants entering the classified arena.

Size and scope of the mobile business and mobile marketing industry

Following short list of articles, interviews and announcements demonstrate a positive trend in the mobile business world with a focus on mobile advertising and marketing.

• “The next big wave in advertising is the mobile internet:” Interview with Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung about mobile, location based services, social networks, cloud computing and online advertising. Schmidt says “Mobile will be a larger business than the PC-Web. But it will take a few years.” Note: Google is ten years old this year!
• “How to market to generation (M)obile:” Article from the MITSloan Management Review. “Forecasts for global mobile marketing spending range from $9 billion to $19 billion by 2011.”

How European regulation will help content companies such as Mobiya

European operators braced for EU-dictated price custs on SMS

Regulation here we come. June 30th was the deadline for European operators to let the EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding know how much they were charging for roaming text messages and data downloads as of July 1. Reuters reports an EU official in its executive body said that submissions from mobile operators showed that they hadn’t made enough price cuts to SMS messages sent abroad, though they had made reductions in the price of downloading data while traveling. The industry is now bracing itself for mandatory price cuts on SMS prices, but is expecting Reding to conclude that the data download business is too young to rush in with regulation.

Reding is to announce whether she will mandate price cuts on SMS and data on or around July 18. She has said in the past she will require operators to charge consumers 12 euro cents for a roamed text message, and for carriers to charge each other no more than 35 euro cents per megabyte for data.

By Dianne See Morrison – paidContent:UK