MobiTV is turning the conventional TV broadcasting model on its head with Mobi4BIZ, a personalized business and financial news service offering live TV, video on demand and stock data. The first in a series of audience-specific offerings, Mobi4BIZ lets viewers create personal watch lists and then finds content dynamically based on their lists.
"We're trying to turn you into your own programmer” and “eventually let people share their unique programming with friends,” said Ray DeRenzo, senior VP of MobiTV Products, Programming and Marketing. “Rather than a broadcaster presenting content, the viewer picks the content he or she wants — they pull the company-specific content they want. When people can get content that's relevant to them, they engage with it more frequently."
"Mobi4BIZ combines three different elements: graphics and text, video on demand that's personalized to your interests, and live streaming TV,” DeRenzo said. It behaves like on-demand video “until you enter a company name. Then MobiTV finds content dynamically.
The new service complements the company's consumer product offerings, delivering the next phase of a strategy to provide a series of vertically-customized products and services that combine live video, VOD and up-to-the-minute data together in a personalized, compelling and easy-to-use interface for mobile professionals and on-the-go entertainment enthusiasts. The first MobiTV vertical application was a Hispanic channel that overindexed — i.e., it was viewed at a proportionally higher rate, according to DeRenzo.
Mobi4BIZ programming is user-driven. Each subscriber creates a watch list and all content found within the application is related to that list. CNBC forms the Mobi4BIZ base video content with up-to-the minute stock market data from its official ticker. It anticipates other partners among Bloomberg Television, FOX Business and TheStreet.com.
Other features include:
- High video quality and resolution in full and partial screen modes
- Company-specific VOD content
- Alerts for breaking news video on portfolio companies
- Personalized content on portfolio companies with detailed financial data
- Simple portfolio navigation and management
- Personalized stock ticker
- Financial graphs, analysis and tools
For its U.S. market debut, Mobi4BIZ is available on Research in Motion's BlackBerry Bold smartphone through most major North American mobile carriers.
For more information, visit www.mobitv.com.
