Get your selves Connected

Against the backdrop of figures released by Strategy Analytics that show that mobile media consumption globally has topped $150billion dollars – and is worth in excess of £2.5billion this year alone in the UK – we here at Telemedia Towers are very happy indeed. For vindication is in the air. For it’s this massive mobile media and content market that the telemedia industry can truly unlock – and vindicates our decision to put on the mGambling, mSport and Connected Summits between now and end of May (there is more to come later in the year – but I’ll tell you all about that in a few weeks).

Next week sees the gambling and sports industries gather in London for out MGaming Summit and MSports Summit at the King’s Fund on Cavendish Square to talk about how mobile is now becoming a central pillar for both these communities.

Featuring speakers from all the leading gambling operators, network operators, Google, The Football League and ESPN alongside all the key telemedia players, these two events cement telemedia’s role in connecting consumers to brands and monetizing the subsequent interaction.

The events will showcase the best of the best in terms of what is being done here and now and will provide a fantastic opportunity for telemedia players to network and engage with some of the key brands in these two industries.

But our commitment to getting telemedia technology into vertical markets doesn’t end there. Next month we are running the Connected Summit, which does the same as the Gambling and Sports Summits, but with print media, TV, brands, marketing agencies, retailers and live events organisers.

This event will also showcase how telemedia technology connects these industries to their consumers – and how to turn that engagement, directly and indirectly, into revenue streams.

And this week’s top stories, which show that mobile media consumption globally has now passed the $150billion mark and how Channel 5’s groundbreaking TV show last week used augmented reality to make the TV programme’s set a 360º experience shows just how far the technology has come. Adding this sort of novel experience to a traditional medium is fun. But it has a serious and potentially hugely disruptive impact on traditional media offerings. While the augmented reality app for Channel 5 works with TV, its potential stretches into any kind of media into a much more immersive experience.

But as the figures on mobile media consumption from Strategy Analytics attest, it is more than just AR. All the other really exciting interactive technology out there – which is the backbone of the Connected Summit – is where consumers and brands are going and we can help them monetize it.

So, while I hope to see you all at the gambling and sports events next week, I hope that we can also start to look at how we extend the reach of telemedia technology beyond where we have so far confined it and start to really look at where all this can fit, not just in entertainment, but also the corporate world and beyond.

So you need to get yourselves connected – and as luck would have it the early bird discount for the event runs until the end of TODAY. So sign up NOW, here

Making a connection with gambling and sport

We are less then two weeks away from the telemedia Mobile Gambling and Mobile Sports Summits in London (25 and 26 April) and less than five away from our Connected Summit (15 and 16 May) and the timing of these four boutique events couldn’t be better.

The gaming and gambling industry is now fully mobilized and our line up of speakers – not to mention our massive array of pre-registered delegates – for the M-Gaming Summit is testament to how much the industry is ready to learn. Similarly with sports, we have hit the nail once again on the head, offering an event that pulls together the best from the world of sport, sports technology suppliers and the telemedia business to showcase to an audience of sports professionals just what they can do when they connect with their audience.

And that is the key to all of this : connection. Where many events look at mobile this and mobile that, we offer a much more holistic view of how to engage with connected audiences on any device and through a range of channels. Of course much of it is on mobile devices, but the lines are blurring. Really we are looking at how the consumer of today engages through the web. And how brands can monetize this.

And that is where the telemedia community comes in. Research carried out by AIME using figures from PRS regulator PPP finds that, while the use of PRS around things like adult, DQ and chat are still very high, they are slowly shrinking (well, they have between 2010 and 2011). However, the use of PRS – particularly mobile payments – for things like gambling, gaming, interaction, content, charity donations and media are growing. In the case of charity, at a staggeringly rapid rate of knots.

Of course these sectors have started from a low base, but they do show that PRS is becoming a trusted and well-used micropayment channel that consumers now want to use.

The purpose of the events we are putting on – and the reason we attract such a high calibre of speaker: Google, PayPal, The Daily Telegraph, O2, Ladbrokes, Betfred and the football league to name but a few – is that a much wider circle of vertical markets now recognise the power of PRS as a quick and easy billing tool. A lot of the work by the likes of AIME and, if I can blow our Telemedia-news trumpet, our events has made this possible and stretched the reach of telemedia technology out into this wider world.

So, if you are looking to learn, meet potential new clients or have a great story to tell you need to be involved. Below are the URLs for the events and you all have my email address if you want to speak, so come on, join us as we make telemedia a real force to be reckoned with out there. The verticals we are targeting – gambling, sport, media, TV, marketing, commerce and live events – are just the start. There are opportunities aplenty in other sectors (not least healthcare, automotive, transport, and even the enterprise market) and these are all areas we are looking to move into. With your support and input we can really start to tell the telemedia story far and wide. So come on, let’s do it.

M-gaming summit

M-sport summit

Connected summit

World Telemedia