No more surfing or zapping
Mobile Telephony: a new and juicy business?

While for the audiences choosing the end of a telenovela and receiving promotional material from their artists means more control and power, for the companies it means both that they have the safety of a captive audience and that they are able to carry out a “live” market research as soon as the transmission of the program is over.

he idea is to open new ways of communication that can bring the audience face to face with TV programs. And how do you achieve this? By creating a synergy between telephony and the Internet. “When the viewers are watching their telenovela and receive a message that means they have to use the Internet, it is usually inconvenient because they have to leave what they are doing in order to use the computer,” considers Camilo Bernal and adds, “Besides, when the audience is asked to phone a toll free number it is most probable that the line will be busy. Both options are very limited. This is where the mobile world fits. It is wireless and it goes anywhere in the world with the user, 24 hours a day.”

What about economic income?
In this model users pay in a similar way to that of cable TV, since there is a basic service and many alternative packs with different fees. Besides, mobile telephony offers two simultaneous options: voice and data. The data service offers the possibility of sending short messages or SMS (Short Messaging System) of up to 160 characters. “We are about to revolutionize the world of telenovelas,” assures the representative of Alvento / Bright Content, a mobile solutions company that is part of Bright Star, a United States company that has become a telephony market leader in Latin America, ranking 3rd in the US Hispanic market, according to Hispanic Business magazine. Currently, they account for approximately two out of four available telephones in the Latin American market.
“The telenovela audience is very faithful and mobile telephony gives them the possibility of participating in the story actively and getting what they want through simple numeric options. For example: dial 1 for a certain option or 2 for a different one.” This system – which has been welcomed in Brazil – also allows sending short messages through SMS in which the users can hear a message telling them, for example, the cost of a certain product. Moreover, it enables the recording of a song, the voice or photos of their favorite artist, and there is the option of keeping these products in the mobile phone while the telenovela is being transmitted.

Additional benefits
Camilo Bernal states that the first benefit to consolidate this system is that it keeps the audience captive. “While viewers are using the screen options on their mobile phones, they won’t be able to change channels. No more surfing or zapping, and as a consequence, the rating goes up. In second place, it enables us to know our audience: age, gender, occupation and other most valuable first-hand information for our database. This reduces the costs of the group sessions held every two or three months. And it makes it possible to carry out a study and a live group session at the end of every program. Finally, the menu can include an option for the users to decide if they want to be sent promotional material for this or a future production of the channel, using the sponsorship of a certain product.” As far as costs are concerned, Bernal states that the company offers many options so that even those who are more limited economically are able to take part in their favorite telenovelas. Besides, it is possible to offer them a special calling card –from Azteca or Televisa Telenovelas for instance– through which the users can receive messages, songs and other material related to a certain production.
Regarding the response they have had from companies, Camilo Bernal tells us that even though they are very interested and can see telephony has a great future, some local media –mainly in the United States– is still very conservative about investing in new technologies right away, but adds that this will certainly change in a couple of years.
Through TVMAS we learned that in Venezuela the ending of the telenovela Trapos íntimos from RCTV was decided with the participation of the viewers, by choosing from a series of interactive scenes that appeared on screen and then sending their choices through SMS.

Camilo Bernal: Expert in Technology

For many years he did an excellent job creating sales and new business in Discovery Latin America/Iberia. Some time later, tempted by the possibilities of technology, Bernal turned into adviser and representative of companies related to mobile phone solutions, and more specifically, entertainment content broadcasting. That way, he has become an expert in the field and specializes in the development of business strategies based on the incorporation of services that provide contents both through broadband access and mobile phone systems. Currently, he represents Bright Star Content LLC, where they use a system that helps telenovelas and audiences to get closer.