Fuzzy Reception for Mobile TV

Mobile TV viewing remains low in Europe and the U.S., but the rollout of mobile broadcast networks could boost usage.

Only 1 percent of mobile phone users across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.K. watched a video clip or commercial TV program on their mobile phone at least once in a month, according to M:Metrics Inc. 's most recent data for the three month period ending in August.

In the U.S., just 1.4 percent of mobile phone users say they view video clips or TV programs at least once per month, according to M:Metrics.
M:Metrics finds that the most popular mobile video content is user-generated videos sent by friends or family. In Europe, 4.2 percent of mobile users say they have watched this kind of video at least once per month, while 3.2 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers say they have watched these videos.

Early indications of users' experiences with these services is not terribly encouraging. According to a study conducted by the Mobile Entertainment Forum and LCC International Inc. , only 26 percent of mobile entertainment users are satisfied with their service. (See MEF Tackles Users and MEM Sizzles on the Riviera.)

Statistics from mobile operators themselves about their mobile TV services are hard to come by. Operators do not readily share much information how many mobile TV subscribers they have or how much revenue they make from content services.

Mobile TV to reach 120 million users by 2012

Mobile TV is expected to reach almost 120 million users by 2012 -- a significant increase from the current 12 million.
The broadcast services are expected to be available throughout 40 countries worldwide, with consumer spending on mobile TV predicted to top USD6.6 billion within the five-year period.

According to a report from Juniper Research, DVB-H will be the dominant transmission standard, and the streaming services that are currently available will gradually evolve to complement mobile broadcast TV, as an outlet for minority viewing TV channels. The largest single market for the services in 2012 is expected to be the US, followed by Japan and Italy.

Case study : MobileTV in Sweden

Résults from Teracom (a public company that maintain and run television, radio and broadband networks in Sweden)

- the test base were 18-59 years old
- lived in well-covered areas
- channel offering consisted of free and pay-per view where pay-per view required that you pay extra after 30 inital free days
- pay-per view was offered for 2 Euro a channel, or 5 Euro for a package

Where did people watch
36% watched mobile TV on a regular basis by themselves at home
36% watched when they were waiting for something i.e a buss
30% watched during their journey

When did they watch
53% watched during weekdays, primarily in the morning and evening

What they bought
35% choose to buy the pay-per-view channels after the free period

Why they watched
13% watched for enterainment
12% to kill time
8% to get updated and informed

Who watched
30-44 yrs old watched the most tv but even 49-59 yrs watched a signficant amount

How much did they watch
62% less than 25 mins per day

What the quality of the service
58% thought it was better picture quality than usual tv
93% thought the sound quality was better than regular tv
42% thought watching 15-35 minutes was "comfortable"
13% thought mobile tv could be watched unlimited - as with a usual tv