The Fox Mobile Group isn’t just about distributing content. It manages distribution, licensing and production units, so it’s involved in every aspect of the value chain.
That’s the message from Mauro Montanaro, the former Nokia executive who is now CEO of the newly launched Fox Mobile Group.
The company is not ditching the Jamba and Jamster brands, but it will come up with a new brand to be introduced in the United States in the first quarter of next year, he said. The brand will be different yet complementary to the existing brands. The company wants to move beyond 1.0 content - characterized by ringtones and wallpaper - and attract a new kind of consumer with more video-oriented content and possibly games, he said.
The target demographic will be closer to the 20- to 25-year-old group rather than the more traditional mobile content target of 15- to 20-year-olds, with more balanced content that appeals to both men and women, he said. Today, the market is skewed toward the male demographic. It also will focus on more understandable pricing for the consumer.
It’s more important than ever in times of economic turmoil to come up with new and differentiated offerings. “This industry needs something new,” he said.
The group also will focus on original productions, increasing by 3-fold the resources devoted to original works.
It’s no coincidence Fox is launching the new brand first in the United States, he said. The United States has been blessed, in a sense, that it didn’t launch 3G too early. “Everything is converging in the right direction in the U.S.,” he said. And while he isn’t at liberty to share numbers, content like “Family Guy” on Verizon V CAST is doing “incredibly well.”
The re-org followed news of News Corporation assuming full ownership of Jamba with its purchase of the 49% stake previously held by VeriSign.