Southern Cross Austereo takes stake in telco and digital broadcasting startup OVO Mobile
Southern Cross Austereo has taken a $5m stake in media and communications start-up OVO Mobile and its digital broadcasting platform, OVOPlay.
Ovo, which describes itself as a ‘hybrid telco‘, offers free mobile content from broadcasting and sports partners to subscribers of its mobile phone services. Barry O’Brien, chair of Atomic 212 and former sales boss of Network Ten, is the chairman of the firm’s parent company, My Mobile Data.
“It’s our broadcasting focus that sets OVO apart,” says CEO Matt Jones
Interesting move by Austereo, you would think there is a reciprocal content agreement in the making? (Not in the press release?)
I’ve heard that Australian carriers don’t care about zero tariff content and ‘it doesn’t move the needle’ (and based on Ovo’s existing content partners I’d have to agree) however if you look at the USA market MetroPCS has built an entire brand on it successfully so maybe Ovo is the one to change the model.
Of course for every MetroPCS……there is a failed AMP’d as well…..so maybe not.
Cheers,
Dean
OVO is hardly a “start up” company. It’s been operating for nearly two years!
Heya Dean,
Tminus 1 year unlimited data will be here. Until then, and indeed for many who wont be prepared to pay the price for unlimited, data free is a hassle free way to watch 100’s of hours of content without having to self meter.
Actually the key insight is we have created a broadcast for sports that never had a broadcast. They have some of the highest participation rates of sports in OZ: Gymnastics, Water Polo etc and no way to watch what they are most passionate about.
And then there is the network effect of having real relationships with customers, not with their eyeballs. This results in this: http://www.400thunder.com.au/4.....n-2016-17/
When you can scale niches (relative to the 4 major codes) with a low incremental cost, you have model that disrupts traditional media distributors, significantly. Just ask The Gang of 4.
But you know what this model does more than anything else? – it proves, subject to natural market forces (read: regulatory intervention), that there will be no discernable difference between telco and media from a consumer point of view in 5 years time.
Key question is then, who wins ? The subscriber – and as a subscriber I may as well hook the phone/tablet/TV up to the network that brings me the content service…
Cheers
MJ