Early Audience for Mobile TV Small But Enthusiastic

Tom Keating : VoIP & Gadgets Blog
Tom Keating
CTO
| VoIP & Gadgets blog - Latest news in VoIP & gadgets, wireless, mobile phones, reviews, & opinions

Early Audience for Mobile TV Small But Enthusiastic

Just thought I'd share this interesting Park Associates report below, which claims that although their is a small early audience for Mobile TV that it is very enthusiastic. I couldn't agree more. With popular gadgets such as the Slingbox Personal Broadcaster, which lets you stream TV over a broadband connection, TiVo, and the under-rated Windows Media Center Edition 2005 operating system, TV as we know it is going to drastically change.

There are controversial copyright issues with streaming content from your home TV, but unless you're streaming it to hundreds of users and not using it for "fair personal use", I don't think the TV broadcasters will have much of a case if and when this goes to the Supreme Court. Of course, when you stream live TV to your hotel room, you've still watching the paid commercials, so I don't see why they're complaining. As for streaming recorded content with commercials stripped out, well those are the breaks my TV broadcasting friends. Either you get with the times or get left in the dust!

Look what happened with P2P music, Napster, Kazaa, etc. First music was free on P2P networks like Napster, then Apple's iTunes came out for $0.99 per song and both dramatically changed the music industry. While you can still get music for free on P2P networks (illegally & legally), many law-abiding citizens have chosen to pay a reasonable free for good music content. So again my TV friends, evolve with the times or expect users to find ways to get their content for "free".

Now check out the Parks Associates report...

12-13% of U.S. Internet Users with at Least One Portable Device Are Interested in Video/TV on the Go

A small but dedicated segment of consumers will drive the early market for video content and live TV services on portable and mobile platforms, according to Parks Associates' recent study "Mobile Entertainment Platforms and Services". The majority of these consumers belong to a consumer segment dubbed Mobile Aficionados, which consists of more than 40 million Internet users.

The study, based on a survey of more than 2,000 U.S. Internet users, found 13% of those who own one or more portable devices would like to see capabilities for live TV integrated into these devices. In addition, 12% perceive the portable functionality of watching videos such as movie trailers and full-length movies as important.

"The percentages of consumers interested in mobile video/TV services are smaller than those for other functions such as taking photos and listening to music," said Yuanzhe (Michael) Cai, senior analyst at Parks Associates. "But there is a group of hardcore mobile entertainment enthusiasts who are very motivated-either they have already adopted a portable device with video playback functions or are very eager to add live TV support to their mobile devices."

"Mobile Entertainment Platforms and Services" also finds that among those who value the capability for pre-recorded video services, close to 30% already own a portable device that serve this need, with another 7% showing a strong desire to have this function. For those who value TV viewing capabilities, a smaller percentage (10%) already have a capable device, and close to a one-fourth (24%) have very strong desire to add such a function.

"Portable multimedia players, portable gaming players, and video phones may soon be competing for these hardcore enthusiasts," Cai said. "Portable multimedia players have a head start, but cellular carriers could offer a variety of business models to offset this advantage, including on-demand viewing of news clips and sport highlights or access to 'real-time' content such as breaking news."

"Mobile Entertainment Platforms and Services" surveyed more than 2,000 U.S. Internet users (including teenagers) regarding their ownership, usage, and interest in different mobile/portable entertainment platforms and services. The study provides detailed cross-tabulation, factor analysis, and cluster analysis. For additional information about Mobile Entertainment Platforms and Services, visit http://www.parksassociates.com or contact 972-490-1113 or [email protected].



Related Articles to 'Early Audience for Mobile TV Small But Enthusiastic'
polkast-main-iphone-screen.PNG
no-youtube-for-you-iphone.jpg
netflix-usps-were-sorry.jpg
netflix-usps-were-sorry.jpg

Featured Events