Pioneer: User-Originated Content Can Cost Industry Billions

In a new study, Pioneer Consulting found that, much to the chagrin of the mobile industry value chain, a significant portion of the multimedia content on mobile phones is either user-generated or existing content that the user merely transferred or is storing on the phone.

As consumers increasingly share this so-called “user-originated content” (UOC), they effectively ignore the mobile content value chain. And, as more handsets come equipped with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi functionality, they’re bypassing the carrier networks as well.

According to Pioneer’s “Multimedia Mobile Content Distribution” study, this can put some $16.4 billion in potential revenue at risk by 2012, a figure Pioneer says may equal more than a quarter of the total revenue opportunity for that year.

The report does offer suggestions to help operators avoid this potential revenue loss, such as adopting P2P technologies as a way to cut down on bandwidth bottlenecks and make content downloading faster and more user-friendly.

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Tim Devane (bitly), and SocialTimes' writer Devon Glenn.   Register now.