Every major advance in distribution technology over the last 100 years has spawned a class of media upstarts that focused on these emerging, mass platforms and, along the way, became giants.
For example, The Golden Age of Television and broadcasting gave rise to three powerful networks. Decades later, the emergence of the Internet as a mass medium, coupled with a sharp decline in the costs of distribution, catapulted nimble vertical blog-based media companies to the forefront. These include the likes of Mashable, Gawker, The Huffington Post,Sports Blog Nation and dozens of others.
Now a new era is under way.
The next wave of media disruptors are laser focused on being tailored, rather than retrofitted, for mobile devices. They start out sometimes just as apps, creating a strong beachhead in your pocket. Then they use these platforms to springboard into other ancillary media ventures. This means they're cut from a different cloth than older stalwarts that often need to retrofit themselves for mobile.
With Internet consumption on mobile devices set to surpass the same on PCs next year, according to Morgan Stanley, and US smart phone penetration to hit 50%, Nielsen says, mobile is no longer the tail on the media dog. For the next wave of media upstarts, it's the dog and the rest is the tail.
Here's a quick look at three mobile pure play media brands that have caught my eye, all of which are now expanding into other media ventures.
Lose It
Lose It is a disruptor in health and wellness media. It debuted in 2008 as a free iPhone app built around a simple premise. First, using their tools, you calculate the number of calories you need to survive. Then they provide a service to help track what you consume - a slightly lower number - and gain the support of your social network. The app, which is free, has millions of users and now FitNow, Inc. is bringing the Lose It brand to other platforms.
Amazingly, Lose It didn't have a web app when it launched. They since added one. But that's not all. This year the founders also published a brand new diet book as well. Android and other launches are in the works. And just today they linked up with Withings.
So, to recap, the transmedia arc here is: mobile first, then web, then books.
TWiT
Leo Laporte is no stranger to tech media. He's seen it bloom with ZDTV, which later became TechTV and then faded once it couldn't find an audience.
Since 2005, however, he has from the ground up built This Week in Tech (TWiT) into a tech media powerhouse, thanks to a suite of shows that have attracted strong following and advertiser loyalty.
The company to date has been focused on mobile. It started with audio podcasts, riding the coattails of the iPod wave. Later they added video (live and recorded) as more sophisticated devices gained in popularity. But now, however, Laporte is building out beyond mobile a significant position on set-top devices, like the Roku.
The transmedia arc here for TWiT: mobile audio, then mobile video, then the living room.
Angry Birds
In 2010 it was virtually impossible to miss Angry Birds. The mobile game - which is only a year old - was downloaded 50 million times last year and it's already become a global addiction. Every day Angry Birds is played an astounding 200 million minutes worldwide, according to Rovio - its publisher.
Angry Birds' roots maybe in mobile, but not for long. It was part of last week's release of the Mac App Store. What's more, given their status as a pop culture icon and their line of plus toys and forthcoming Mattel board game, it's no surprise that a movie and TV show could be next for the flying birds and pigs.
The transmedia arc here for Angry Birds: mobile gaming, then consumer products, PC/console games, then movies and TV.
Takeaways
The insight here - for me at least - is that we're at the very beginning of a new era in media; one where mobile is the primary distribution platform. What's more, we have a perfect storm of technologies coming together that combine local, social, photo and mobile (what we call "LoSoPhoMo") and this is sure to spur even more media companies that are pure-plays at least at the start. Instagram is a good example.
But I bet they will all eventually go transmedia.
With the market for smart phones startups significantly larger than PC-based models, mobile - particularly LoSoPhoMo - is where we'll see the greatest innovation in the years ahead. The question is will the pure-plays reign the way their predecessors did or will the traditional media companies use their brands to outmuscle everyone. Or will there be a grey area. The forthcoming launch of The Daily is certainly an entry to watch.
Regardless, this is an exciting time for media innovation - perhaps as exciting as the dawn of social media back in the mid-2000s. It will spur a lot of experimentation and give marketers lots of new ways to reach consumers on the most captivating platform of all, mobile devices.
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