Connected Creativity: The mobile entertainment event at MIP TV

I’ve been visiting Paris every week or so for the past month to work with the team at MIPTV’s Connected Creativity event.

MIPTV is where the world’s entertainment industry comes to discuss what’s new and what’s moving across the global entertainment marketplace.

Connected Creativity is a new addition to MIPTV this year. It’s dedicated to exploring the implications of mobile on the entertainment world.

For over a decade now I think it’s been fair to say that there’s been some kind of mobile entertainment market. For the most part, entertainment meant ‘ringtones’, some text games and some java games. And that was it. The arrival of the iPhone has really galvanised the entertainment market — so much so that I think it’s also fair to say that the global mobile entertainment marketplace has exploded in recent years.

It’s not just about the mobile device though. It’s about how that mobile device powers your entertainment across multiple channels.

The makers of the TV series Chuck or The Wire probably didn’t give much thought to mobile as a medium when they originally conceived their programming. However I purchased and consumed both entire shows on my iPhone. If your entertainment content isn’t available on the iPhone, I won’t be buying it.

I’m lucky to have both an iPhone, a BlackBerry and a Nokia N8. But if I just had one — let’s say the Nokia N8 — there is absolutely no way the entertainment world is having my money. NO way.

Because the entertainment world has largely ignored Nokia and their rather superb Ovi Store distribution platform. Ovi isn’t just about downloading apps. It’s fully content-capable. The same goes with RIM and BlackBerry. If I was just using a BlackBerry, you’d never have got my money.

Conventional wisdom says I’d have just gone and bought the DVDs.

No.

I’m too busy to watch them. I don’t have a DVD player. I gave my PlayStation to my sister-in-law so she could host regular SingStar parties. My Mac Pro Towers do have DVD-capable drives but I don’t use them for that.

My Mac Air doesn’t have a DVD drive. I’m ahead of the curve, I know. But it’s a curve.

Like many now, £9.99 or £15.99 or £19.99 (to download a TV series) is an irrelevant cost to me, if it means I can get entertainment when I need it. For me that means on my phone — and more specifically, for me it means on my iPhone as that’s my entertainment device of choice. I’m still amazed by the amount of content people who haven’t realised this or who are still arsing around ‘negotiating’ with platforms such as Apple, Ovi and RIM’s App World. If I can’t buy and download it easily, the chances are I’ll either get a copy for free from a friend or I’ll avoid giving you the money in the first place. For me, the latter is the reality.

Right now, nearly all of my mobile entertainment spend is routed through Apple. But it doesn’t have to be this way. I’m beginning to use my N8 more and more for entertaining games. Likewise, I’ve begun to sync my BlackBerry properly now (using their brilliant WiFi media sync system) so I have my key music playlists on there.

But music, video, movies, games apps… these are just touching the surface of mobile entertainment. The importance of connected entertainment — Connected Creativity — is just beginning to hit the wider market.

Back to the event. When the organisers at MIPTV invited me to help them programme their Connected Creativity event, I jumped at the chance.

The event is taking place on the 4th-7th of April in Cannes, France. If you’re involved in mobile entertainment, in any way, you should strongly consider attending.

I’m now becoming a regular visitor to their offices and it’s been very exciting watching the initial event programme begin to come together.

I’m particularly keen that the event doesn’t overly focus on Apple. I think that market is made and is working very well indeed. I’d really like to explore what’s going on beyond the iPhone and beyond the Western Apple iPhone bubble.

In the run-up to Connected Creativity I’m planning an array of posts focusing around the entertainment market. If you’d like to participate, drop me a note.

And if you’ve got any suggestions for speakers, panelists and companies, products or services that should be demonstrated to the 12,000 MIPTV entertainment executives, let me know.

As always I’m ewan@mobileindustryreview.com.

Find out more about the event here: http://connected-creativity.mipworld.com/