Mobile telephone operators must focus on developing content if they are to profit from mobile television, with a new report from Informa Telecoms and Media saying that if telecomms players do not get their content strategies right, mobile users will not be interested in mobile TV.
Informa claim that mobile television content must be compelling to provide revenue streams, with the provision of strong content driving uptake of mobile TV, rather than technology.
Explaining the situation, Helen Ponsford, author of the new Mobile TV and Video Content Strategies report, said: “Although mobile operators have the most at stake, they may not necessarily be the real winners from the provision of mobile TV and video in the long term.”
She continued: “It is the content owners that are best placed to capture the lion’s share of the revenue, not least because they can take advantage of their control over mobile broadcast rights to ensure that distribution of content is on their terms rather than that of the operation.”
According to Informa, mobile TV and video look set to have the same mass-market appeal as regular TV.
This prediction poses a dilemma for content owners, should they target young males who have already been found to and can be relied upon to use the service in the short term, or produce content for a wider audience that may expedite mass market adoption of mobile TV and video.
Consumers in the UK seem keen to adopt mobile TV technology, with findings from the Oxford Media Trial released earlier this year results from the Oxford Mobile TV trial (see BT Reveals Consumer Interest In Mobile TV) and a similar study from BT both revealing a high level of interest from consumers in a commercial mobile TV service (see UK Consumers Keen For Mobile TV).
In the US, eMarketer projects that 3 million US consumers will watch TV programming on their mobile phones in 2006, up from 1.2 million in 2005. By 2009, the analyst expects there will be 15 million video viewers, an estimated 6.2% of total mobile subscribers (see US Mobile TV Subscriptions To Hit 15 Million By 2009).
Meanwhile, Juniper Research predicts worldwide mobile television revenues to increase rapidly before the end of the decade, peaking at $7.6 billion in 2010, up from an estimated $136 million this year (see Mobile TV Set For Massive Revenue Growth).
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