Can you tell us more about your service?
The Poptiq (Metranome) mobile video service provides a quick and easy way for users to enjoy videos on their smartphone or wireless media player. We understand that when people are ‘out and about’ they don’t have time to search or wait for videos to download. That’s why Poptiq learns what users like and sends them videos that match their interests before they want to watch them. So when Poptiq users have a few minutes (or more) available and want to watch some great video, they simply open Poptiq and start watching. Poptiq is often compared to Pandora or Last.fm in the way that it finds personally relevant videos, and compared to Tivo in the way that videos are ready to be watched when you want to watch them. Poptiq is currently available for the iPhone and iPod touch and uses WiFi where ever possible to receive videos. By using WiFi, Poptiq is highly efficient for both users and mobile operators, conserving cellular bandwidth while at the same time providing a fantastic ‘ready when you are’ experience.
What is your business model?
Our business model is based on providing value and helping develop relationships between audiences, producers, and brands. For audiences, Poptiq is focused on delivering relevant videos based on personal interests and introducing new content that users would not easily discover on their own. Poptiq is working with video producers to help them find and connect with their mobile audience.
Poptiq provides producers with the ability to promote their content to interested mobile users, creating fans and ultimately monetizing their work. Poptiq is also helping brands identify and connect with mobile audiences who’s interests match their product or service. By using the deeply engaging and highly personal mobile video medium, brands can speak to and interact with consumers at a much more intimate level than broadcast or online video.
What are the projects, additional features you’re preparing?
We are working on expanding the Poptiq experience in three areas: social, content, and personal relevance. The number of social networks that Poptiq can interact with will expand, allowing more users to share videos with more of their friends. Sharing videos will become richer, with an increase in the ways users can share as well as the level of interactivity with shared videos. There are a couple features in this area that we are really excited about and can’t wait to let loose to our users. As for content, we are constantly expanding the videos available to Poptiq users.
The focus will continue to be on high quality professional or independently produced videos that are innovative and target both narrow and broad audiences. At the heart of Poptiq is the ability to deliver personally relevant videos to users. Several of the features under development will allow users to better define their interests, access more relevant content, and discover new and interesting video.
What are the current users’ feedback, your learnings on the service’s usage?
User feedback has been very positive. Poptiq (or mobile video in general) might not be a service for everyone, but those who like it seem to like it a lot. We have learned that mobile video appeals to a wide range of users from all age groups. We have also learned that our users are watching videos at all times of the day, suggesting that users are not using Poptiq as a substitute for television but instead to fill the moments of downtime throughout their days and/or nights. It’s clear that ‘anytime’ is ‘prime time’ for mobile video.
We are currently asking our users to help define our pricing model by asking them what they think Poptiq is worth. We have received some great feedback on how people feel about ad supported and paid content, and many ideas on pricing. We’re going to continue to gather opinions and share the results once they have been processed.