Is MobiTV a Success Story in the Making?

While the current economic crisis has affected a lot of companies, some companies still continue to enjoy huge growth. MobiTV, the pioneer in mobile entertainment, has had a phenomenal growth so far and the bad economy does not seem to have affected it at all. The company recently released its growth and revenue details and I have to say I was pretty impressed to see the figures.

1. The company recently reached the 5 million subscriber mark which is a considerable achievement. Interestingly, it managed to add more than a million subscribers in just five months.

2. Its growth chart has been really impressive. It started offering live TV to mobile phones way back in 2003 – a time when mobile TV was considered a longshot. In 2005, it had just around 500,000 subscribers. Now, it has crossed the 5 million mark.

3. The annual revenue, which was around $20 million in 2005, has now more than tripled and the company expects a substantial profit in the first quarter of 2009.

4. Recently, it has added popular shows like Desperate Housewives and ABC News to its long list of products. Also, its live coverage of the presidential debates got a huge positive response from a record number of mobile users.

5. A few months back, MobiTV came up with an application called Mobi4Biz which provides customized business news packages to viewers. The package includes features like live TV and a special video on demand facility wherein customers can get content from CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox Business, and TheStreet.com. This application, as of now, is only available on Blackberry Bold. Depending on this app’s success, the company has plans to come up with a replica of this application next year for sports fans and children as well.

6. MobiTV has joined hands with more than 20 carrier networks including some big names like AT&T, Sprint, and Alltel and is available on more than 350 handsets. It offers a wide range of content including live TV, video on demand, digital music services, and premium programs. The revenue generated is split evenly between MobiTV, content providers, and mobile operators.

As you can see, MobiTV is a success story in every which way. However, its founders are wary of the fact that mobile TV is fast becoming hugely competitive and they constantly strive to keep their standards really high. Last year, we saw both AT&T and Verizon joining hands with Qualcomm MediaFlo to launch their own mobile TV service – named AT&T Mobile TV and Verizon VCast respectively. This apart, local TV stations are also planning to enter the mobile world by offering live TV to mobile phones through standard TV signals. So, it is not going to be a smooth ride for MobiTV for sure.

Categories: All things mobile phones, Mobile TV.

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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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A look at Limbo’s mobile advertising report

Limbo, probably the most famous mobile entertainment community in the world, released its mobile advertising report recently. It had some encouraging figures and some surprising facts.

1. The major focus of the report was on brand recall. Limbo says more than 40% of mobile users who received mobile ads were able to recall at least one brand, which is a significant fact.

2. SMS or text message is still the number one choice for mobile advertisers. While it is known that SMS is very popular with youth, this report says that there is a significant number of people aged 35 or over use SMS regularly, thereby debunking the myth that SMS is an exclusive medium for youth.

3. WAP is the fastest growing medium with close to 70 million users. This will help mobile advertisers reach end users more effectively.

4. Surprisingly, people in the low income group were able to recall brands more effectively than people in the high income group.

5. As usual, Verizon and AT&T were the most recalled names.

When it was predicted that mobile advertising industry will be worth billions in a few years, a lot of eyebrows were raised in doubt. But with more users, more advertisers, and more operators joining the mobile advertising bandwagon, I’m sure the industry will grow at the predicted rate.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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