Mobile TV to become a $15 billion market in 2012

It seems mobile TV has caught the attention of market analysts big time. A lot of experts are touting mobile TV as the next big thing and here’s yet another report which has come up with quite an optimistic prediction, I should say.

A new research report from Multimedia Intelligence predicts that mobile TV market will be worth a whopping $15 billion in 2012. The report says that customers now demand personalized entertainment from their mobile phones more than ever before, as there is a huge influx of high-end mobile phones in the market these days. This has led to the belief that mobile TV will play a huge role in the future of mobile entertainment.

Also, mobile TV is considered the perfect medium for advertising by many as it has a huge advantage over other forms of mobile ads such as text message ads, banner ads, and WAP links. Ads in TV are something we’ve all got used to. So, when you’re watching your favorite show on mobile TV, an ad break won’t look too strange to you. On the other hand, a mobile banner ad can easily be considered intrusive by many. Also, the recall rates for mobile TV ads will be extremely high, as the ads are highly engaging. This is something I’ve already discussed in detail here.

However, there is one missing link here. While mobile TV could provide some good on-the-go entertainment for users and some good ad revenue for advertisers and operators, it will happen only if it’s offered free of cost. A paid mobile TV service, no matter how good it is, will not find a lot of takers in this era of freebies. We already have an example for this in the form of AT&T and Verizon’s mobile TV service - both got a lukewarm response from users. So, like I already said, ad-funded mobile TV could be the future. What do you think folks?

Categories: Mobile TV.

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Is ad-funded mobile TV the future?

Communicasia is one of the most talked about IT events this year and Communicasia 2008 is underway as I’m writing this blog. A congregation of IT and communication majors from all over the world are expected to be there and the list of attendees is quite impressive.

MComms TV, an Australian company, caught my attention. It is a mobile TV innovation company and it showcased a software-based solution which in my opinion can play a huge part in mobile TV in the future.

MComms Ad Insert, the software-based solution, places advertisements in live mobile TV streams seamlessly. The company couldn’t have chosen a better time. Just recently, Verizon and AT&T launched their own mobile TV service and they both received lukewarm reception from mobile users. The reason is pretty clear. Mobile users, a big number of them, are not ready to pay a monthly subscription for mobile TV yet. In this case, the only way to make users tune into mobile TV is to offer the service for free. Which is possible only if it’s ad-funded. You get the picture?

Now at this juncture, a technology like MComms Ad Insert could come handy. Operators can now try to offer free mobile TV backed with advertisements. After all, the users get to access a variety of mobile content including but not limited to music videos, TV shows, and movie trailers.

What do you say? Have any of you guys subscribed to Verizon or AT&T’s mobile TV service? Will you give it a try if it was free of cost? Let me know your views.

Categories: Mobile TV.

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Ready to watch live TV on your Nokia phone?

Monsoon Multimedia, a California based company, has come up with HAVA Mobile Player, digital video service, which has made quite an entry into the market. The video service is interestingly called the ‘sling box killer’, as it is considered a direct competitor to the famous Sling Media.

Monsoon Multimedia’s HAVA Mobile Player allows you to watch live TV from your mobile phone. Not just that, you will be able to pause, skip, rewind, and schedule your DVR recordings right from your phone. Monsoon Multimedia is confident that people will find it very easy to use this service on their high-end Nokia phones. They also believe that they can outdo Sling Media with this service. However, this service is meant only for S60 Symbian phones as of now whereas Sling Media’s TV service is available on Symbian, Palm, Windows Live Mobile, and it’s rumored that it will be soon available in Blackberry. With this being the case, I don’t think the HAVA Mobile Player is much of a competition for Sling Media, at least as of now.

This mobile TV service will be made available to the public for free next quarter. However, Monsoon is also planning to run a beta program in between.

The way I see it, mobile TV industry is headed for a unique battle. On one hand, you have devices like HAVA Mobile Player which make live TV available in your mobile phone. On the other hand, you have carriers coming up with separate mobile TV service.

Now, as a mobile user, what would you choose? A mobile TV service from a carrier which lets you choose a certain number of channels for a fixed sum every month, or a device like this one which lets you watch live TV right on your mobile phone without any restrictions?

Categories: All things mobile phones, Mobile TV, Nokia.

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A look at the growth of mobile TV worldwide

I’ve discussed the concept of mobile TV a lot of times in this blog and ever since Verizon and AT&T launched their mobile TV service, I see a lot of debates going on in the internet and people taking sides for or against mobile TV. Just so you know, this concept doesn’t start and end in the United States. It’s a global phenomenon and let me broaden the horizon for you.

Italy, which is considered one of the most developed mobile phone markets in Europe, is also the leader when it comes to mobile TV in Europe. There are a dozen channels available in mobile TV in Italy and there is a loyal user base of more than one million subscribers who pay 19 Euros every month.

In Switzerland, there is a 100-second news broadcast on mobile phones and it is very popular with mobile users there. There are more than 40,000 people who watch this TV news broadcast in their mobile phones every day. People here can get up to 20 channels in their mobile phones and they pay around 13 Swiss Francs every month.

Japan is the undisputed leader when it comes to mobile TV. There are around 20 million mobile phones in Japan which are equipped with TV receivers. South Korea, another market leader in Asia, has more than 8 million mobile phones equipped with TV receivers. India, with more than 250 million mobile users, has also shown a strong inclination for mobile TV and is considered a potential market in the near future. Thanks to these markets, mobile TV in Asia is growing rapidly and is miles ahead of the U.S. market.

This apart, countries like Britain, France, and Germany have plans to start mobile TV service this year.

Do you see the complete picture? There are people all over the world who pay money for mobile TV and it’s considered one of the most successful revenue-generating services for operators.

So, in my opinion, mobile TV will not remain a niche service in the U.S. for long. I think it’s a pretty useful service for people who are always on the move and it will find its takers eventually. Also, with mobile advertisers eyeing mobile TV, we could soon have free, ad-supported TV on our mobile phones, just like television.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Mobile TV.

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AT&T’s mobile TV - Deal or no deal?

Mobile TV has gained a lot of attraction in the recent times. Mobile advertisers are looking to go beyond the traditional means of advertising on mobile phones like text messaging (SMS), MMS, and banner ads and mobile TV could be the ideal choice for them. There are two reasons for this. First, people are used to ads on TV. So, watching ads during a TV show, even if it’s on their mobile phone, won’t sound too odd to them. Second, you can offer a huge variety of content via mobile TV which can attract plenty of people, making it more lucrative than SMS ads or banner ads.

However, not everyone is painting a rosy picture about mobile TV. For example, the latest offer from AT&T – AT&T Mobile TV – has raised a debate among experts.

AT&T has launched its mobile TV service in 58 markets and uses the same Qualcomm MediaFlo service used by its counterpart Verizon. If you remember, Verizon launched its V Cast Mobile TV a few weeks back. AT&T offers 10 channels at a rate of $15 per month. However, experts say this might not go down too well with everyone.

They seem to come up with two reasons. First, not everyone will be enthusiastic about paying $15 a month for mobile TV. Second, only two handsets can support this mobile TV service - LG Vu which costs $300 and Samsung Access which costs $200.

My take on this issue is simple. Both Verizon and AT&T offer mobile TV services from MediaFlo which are far superior in quality than watching a downloaded video clip on your mobile phone. Market research shows that there is a considerable audience, if not large, for mobile video and this could work in favor of mobile TV. However, the downside, as I already mentioned in my article earlier, is that only two or three handsets can support this service. You cannot expect everyone to buy a $300 mobile phone. So, if they could make it available on more handsets, handsets that are affordable, I think they could attract a good number of users.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Mobile TV.

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