3 loses out on free World Cup clips

740,000 users a week watched video footage of the World Cup on mobile operator 3's handsets - but it still made a loss, it was revealed today.

As 3's mobile World Cup content was offered free to its 3 million customers, supported by advertising and sponsorship, it did not make money as a standalone service, according to David Stranks, who was involved in the operator's coverage of the event.

Mr Stranks - who joined TV sports producer Sunset+Vine after the World Cup as head of new media - said that offering free coverage of big events, supported by advertising and sponsorship, was the way forward for mobile sports content in the short to medium term.

"People are very happy to use it when it's free, but I'm not sure that, beyond the committed fan, people are willing to pay for it," he told a Westminster e-forum seminar on mobile sports content today.

During the World Cup in Germany, 3 offered video previews of every match, plus two minutes of highlights within five minutes of the final whistle and three and a half minutes within an hour of each game ending.

The mobile firm also provided SMS text alerts and nine-second clips of goals, plus a twice-daily football chatshow.

Mr Stranks said 740,000 3 users were watching World Cup video on their mobiles each week during the tournament, out of a subscriber base of 3 million.

The chatshow was getting more than 100,000 mobile viewers a week.

"This proves that the right event, offered up in the right way, not attempting to duplicate what was being done on traditional TV, can attract the casual mobile user," he added.

"It was a good PR and branding exercise, but it's not a commercially sustainable model."

Mr Stranks said a wider survey of 3's subscriber base had found that 31% of users never accessed content via their mobile and just used voice and text services.

Another 21% had tried using 3's content and given up; 31% were "semi-active"; and only 14% of 3's subscribers used its audio and video content every week.

Mr Stranks also quoted Olswang research, which found that 37% of respondents said they would not pay for mobile content.

"To grow the mobile sports content market beyond the passionate, committed fan - given these sort of statistics - seems fairly insurmountable.

"At 3, during the World Cup, I think we did prove that with the right event you can do that."

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