On-the-go 'toons

Mobile content often comes in the form of wallpaper, ringtones, music, terrified corncobs, monster rabbits … OK, the last two might not sound as common, but through independent animation network Aniboom's mobile content initiative, more than 6000 animated shorts, such as the corncobs, are making their way to mobile handsets. The professional animator's “social network” recently added six mobile distributors and five online video platforms to its list of partners.

After a successful launch with YouTube, Aniboom online video partners now include Blinkx, blip.tv, Dailymotion, Metacafe and Veoh Networks. Hoping to take that success mobile, Aniboom also has created an initiative for animators to make video shorts specifically for handsets through MobiTV and Thumbplay in the U.S. and through Buongiorno S.p.A., Cellfish, Jamster and Player X in Europe.

Jonas Gerber, head of Aniboom's U.S. operations, is hoping the world's 200 million mobile users will agree that animation is the quintessential cross-platform format. Unlike full-length films, animation translates well to a small screen and can be enjoyed in shorter segments, he said. Furthermore, mobile animation might be the one thing that can break language barriers and appeal to diverse cultures, which have a short attention span in common.

Aniboom is not a typical user-generated content network. Its members are professional animators seeking exposure and, of course, money. The company does face some stiff competitors in the mobile market, however. Heavy-hitters such as the Looney Tunes bunch and SpongeBob SquarePants already have followings on mobile TV channels.

“Of course the ‘premium’ content, the high-brand recognition stuff, is going to right off the bat drive more volume than independent brands,” Gerber said. “But the video category for a lot of our distributors, although it's small for the market size, is growing. … That's why we have a lot of the deals we do; people see that our content works well for mobile video.”