Australia seems to be embracing mobile video “snacking”...or at least the media is. The Australian pointed to a survey by media agency Universal McCann which found that 46 percent of people wanted TV on their phones and 66 percent wanted mobile internet. Although the article used “Video snacks the mobile future” as the title the writing didn’t really back it up, in fact Rob Belgiovane, creative director of ad agency BWM, “admitted the role of content was still ill-defined..."The role of content, not just in Australia but the whole world, is not clearly understood,” Mr Belgiovane said. “Long formats have been tried, short formats have been tried.” Telstra seems to have got the idea at least, with BigPond chief executive Justin Milne revealing that from today the company would change the way it charges on the BigPond mobile portal—out of three tabs on the portal two will allow cost-free surfing and content through selected sites while the third (assumedly unrestricted) will be charged at a traditional data rate.

The SMH followed suit with ‘Snacking’ to spark mobile video explosion but this was backed up...mainly with quotes from content producers that this is the way to go. “MobileActive’s managing director, Neil Wiles, said it was critical for mobile video to be tailored to a “snacking environment”, in which people expect entertainment in short bursts.” Mobile content vendor MobileActive just signed up Paul Fenech of Fat Pizza, lead Mambo surfwear designer Reg Mombassa and comedian Steve Abbott (better known as The Sandman), all pretty big if slightly alternative names in Australia, they’ll be creating original made-for-mobile content including short clips, audio grabs and wallpapers. There’s also an interesting stat from Frost and Sullivan: ”21.1 percent of Australians use fast 3G networks and internet-capable mobile phones. It forecasts this figure will jump to 42.1 percent in 2010.” The rate of uptake of 3G seems to be increasing…