WILL THE CONCEPT OF MOMICS WORK? (WE SAY “YES”!)

Mobile Comics are back again. The last time they appeared, they slipped back into coma. Will this time be any different or will we witness a repeat?

If the mauling of Romans by Asterix and Obelix fascinates many, the idiosyncratic gestures of Suppandi in Tinkle or the audacious exploration of Tintin make hours on a weekend seem like minutes for the young-minded readers. But call it either a germination from the various Earth-saving movements or an intervention of the technology gods, the paper back craze is now going mobile too! Teenagers today are catching up with their favourite comic characters on their cellphones and sharing it with their friends. Welcome to the world of mobile comics; call them ‘Momics’!

So what’s this latest fad? To put it simply, it’s nothing never heard of before. Historically, Nazara (a gaming portal) first experimented with the Archie momics in 2005. The concept bombed. This time apparently is the second coming for momics, with many telecom operators, content providers, advertisers and of course comic players betting big on this medium.

Opines Rajesh Razdan, Co-founder & Director – Sales and Marketing, mCarbon (a telecom VAS provider, which also develops mobile applications and tools), “Various reports in the media value the comics market anywhere between `100 crore to `400 crore. Approximately 10 million comics are sold every year in the traditional manner. And with the digital/mobile media augmenting the personalisation and outreach in all respects, the comic book market should witness at least a 50% appreciation in market size over the next three or four years.” To this, Gaurav Luthra, Head – Content, Mogaé Digital (a mobile advertising player), adds, “With some innovations, more smartphones and 3G on the horizon, the market for momics is set to increase manifold. The market at present is estimated at about 25% of the current 600 million telecom subscribers. It’s a big audience.” Currently, many experts opine that Mogaé Digital is the largest player in this segment today, with close to over 100 titles across various genres like folklore, mythology, history, fiction et al. Some of its famous momics strips include Tenali Rama, Akbar Birbal and Bal Hanuman.

Typically, the momics category has three entities in its ecosystem:

(a) Content Providers, that range from established print comic book publishers like Diamond comics, Raj comics et al to TV channels like Cartoon Network to independent content providers like Mogae Digital, ZealCity et al. They create the content which then is distributed by the telecom operators directly or through the portals of Mobile VAS players;

(b) Mobile VAS Players/Technology providers (like Rediff, mCarbon et al), that act as aggregators for content. Users access the portals of these VAS players and then subscribe to the content which is delivered through the telecom operators or companies like ZeroSum, which act as application providers to the telecom operators;

(c) Telecom operators (Airtel, Vodafone, Tata DoCoMo et al), who have billing relations with the users. The users can subscribe to momics directly through a telecom operator or through a mobile VAS provider’s portal.

Tata DoCoMo has already launched a cartoon character known as Docomo man, and for each momics ‘book’, the company charges between Rs.8 to Rs.10. A monthly subscription, using which a subscriber can download a maximum of 10 momics, is priced at Rs.30.

Deepak Gulati, President, Tata DoCoMo, while explaining the rationale behind this VAS says, “If you look at the urban population, be it in Mumbai or even Delhi, the commuting times are really very high. People are spending somewhere between 45 min to an hour, on an average, to reach their place of work. So momics is a good thing that they can read. It’s not just about people who are young at heart and neither is it an earth-moving concept. We are just trying to make it more relevant.”

So how are paper comics formatted for mobile phones? This process is dependent on animation skills and graphics, as 40 pages of a comic book is converted into just 15 slides. It is an elaborate exercise, involving Creative, Production, Processing and Publishing teams that ensure that each momics looks good on any mobile screen. Even though the margins in momics are wafer thin, it appears there’s enough to lure some big companies. Cartoon Network is launching its popular characters like Dexter, Powerpuff Girls and Johnny Bravo on momics by partnering with telecom operators like Airtel, Idea, Reliance Mobile and Tata DoCoMo. Even Rediff, has entered into an alliance with Diamond Comics, Panchatantra and Amar Chitra Katha.

Savio Joseph, Manager – Marketing, ACK Media, says, “As of today, we have more than 100 titles including Krishna, Ganesha, Suppandi et al, which have been received well by the market”.

For now, many consider the business of momics a lucrative one, laden with promises. Some doubt that positivism. Critics quote the past Archies debacle, and mention it is a concept being brought back from the dead. Secondly, margins currently are not lucrative enough to attract massive investments. Thirdly, it’s simply one of the VAS offerings being given by telecom operators, therefore to expect that brands like Vodafone, Tata, Airtel et al, are betting big on it would simply be a ride in the dark. Finally, the cultural issue that Indians – read kids – might never cross over to reading comics on the mobile, simply because they’re not culturally oriented towards that.

Besides these, there are also a couple of usage challenges before the momics community. If school kids/youngsters are the target audience, then current usage patterns point towards an over emphasis on free talk time and free bulk messaging. Will the youth/kid generation have the wherewithal to afford momics to such an extent that it becomes a key profitable proposition for all the parties involved?

“Well, that was what critics said when initially caller tones were offered at a price; and today, caller tones have become significant revenue generating models for telecom service providers,” says Namita Chhetri, President, Indian Council for Market Research.

All in all, our take is that momics contains a promise of a potential that is magnanimously huge, if marketed intelligently. With a slow and steady rise of smartphone sales and internet usage, it is but imperative for all the players in this segment to have their weapons ready in case this business proposition takes off.