Sports offer desirable users to wireless platforms

MarketWatch writes about the prospects for mobile sports content because "sports are one of the most potent ways to reach young men in both the 18-to-34 and the 18-to-49 demographic, groups that are coveted by advertisers because of their willingness to spend dollars and to switch brands if they see a reason to do so. These can be elusive audiences, however, leaving programmers eager to find any way to capture their attention."

The article looks at the mobile efforts of Sprint Nextel (S) and Disney-owned (DIS) ESPN such as advertising, ticket buying, live video and highlights.

Weston Henderek at Current Analysis believed that "as advertising dollars flow to more platforms than ever before, including online media, wireless content won't get left behind. He said, "What I'm seeing is that people would be willing to put up with a short advertising clip in order to gain access to wireless video content, rather than paying $20 a month for an unlimited data package."

Henderek added that this would probably not be true for wireless data as a whole, "but for very specific applications, I think the advertising model could work to help subsidize some of these sports services."