There's no business like 'Mo' business: Mobile entertainment heading to $75 billion

In the 1934 Cole Porter stage musical Anything Goes, singer Ethel Merman told us that "times have changed." Twenty years later, she belted out the lyrics "there's no business like show business." 

Put the two together, and it turns out that 100-decibel Ethel was a bit of a prognosticator for 21st century technology and entertainment. She didn't know it at the time, but by 2017, the value of entertainment delivered via mobile devices, including tablet computers, will hit $75 billion, according to Juniper Research.

That's nearly double 2013's $39 billion, Juniper points out in its report Mobile Entertainment: Leisure, Video, Music, Games, Adult & Gambling 2013-2018.  It's also $75 billion more than existed a decade or so ago. Indeed Ethel, times have changed.

Juniper predicts that  games will lead the growth, and that apps will be largely responsible for the overall surge as vendors deploy "freemium" strategies in which consumers buy things while using an app that they obtained for no charge. Vendor success will depend in part on a successful "app discovery" process, it notes.

The porn sector will not grow much because users have plenty of free and pirated options, the U.K.-based research firm says. 

The study includes news, shopping and navigation as entertainment. 

It points out that "a nascent ecosystem of app-centric mobile devices, such as smartwatches," will help drive the growth. 

Smartwatches? Really?? I don't quite get it myself. But I guess that's entertainment.

Image is from Wikimedia

More mobile content and media on SmartPlanet:

• Hot scoop: Words go cold, so Washington Post gets into furnace business
  
• More consumers paying for online news
• Mobile surge will drive strong advertising recovery
• YouTube: So wholesome it's the new Disney
• The typewriter is officially history in Britain
• Sex doesn't cell
• Phonebill shock: Beware the app
• will.i.am: Goodbye X-Factor, hello Tech Factor