Mobile TV Will Rely On Content
Mobile TV is looming ever larger on the horizon but industry figures say that it is content that will make or break the platform.
According to Ferguson, over 85% of users said that they were interested in paying for mobile TV, with over 35% claiming they will use it every day.
At the start of this year a study from BT showed that there was a clear demand from consumers for broadcast digital television and radio to be accessible from mobile phones (see BT Reveals Consumer Interest In Mobile TV)
Ferguson said that it is clear that an improvement in content will go hand in hand with more interaction and usage. He predicted that the availability of features such as VOD and pause and play facilities on the service would encourage users in their take-up of mobile TV. He added that offering podcasts and overnight downloads were opportunities that should not be overlooked as mobile TV increases its market share, as these are services which people could use, for example, on the tube while commuting to work.
Ferguson did not overlook the impact of increasing media convergence, although he was steadfast in his prediction that content would be the key to any future success of mobile TV. With regards to the expense of mobile TV, Ferguson stated that: “In the UK, the price is right.”
However, Vodafone are not so keen on having user-generated content on mobile TV, stating that linear channels are key for Vodafone at the moment, with VOD becoming increasingly important.
Vodafone have reported a large take-up of the streamed mobile TV service they launched last year with BSkyB, with over 100,000 subscribers and more than 70,000 streams per day (see TV To Go).
A recent report by In-Stat forecast that mobile TV broadcast subscribers worldwide will reach 102 million by the end of 2010, with spectrum availability having an impact on the services which are offered (see Mobile TV To Reach 102 Million Subscribers By 2010).
As with Ferguson, Niall Murphy, co-founder and chief technology officer, The Cloud, emphasised that it is content which will be of paramount importance to mobile TV, pointing to the US where MobiTV has piloted a TV delivery service which allows the user to access a range of video sources. Murphy said: “The user doesn’t really care about the technology, they just care about the end experience.”
Informa Telecoms & Media have predicted that the current World Cup will kick start the take-up of mobile TV, with £300 million of revenue coming from users accessing streaming and broadcast services on their phones during the tournament (see World Cup To Kick Off Growth For Mobile TV).
Of course convergence is a big theme with any discussion of new technologies and platforms, and Murphy said that content on the move would not just be confined to mobile phones, as people purchasing handheld gaming systems such as the Nintendo DS and the PSP were getting not just gaming but also internet access. With this access comes the ability to share content either locally (as with ITV’s local website trial) or on a more global scale, both of which foster a sense of online community.
The movement by gaming into the mobile TV world was also discussed by Carl Christopher, sponsorship manager at Sony Computer Entertainment UK, who spoke of the importance communities play with regards to the model developed by Sony for their PSP. Using WiFi hotspotting the gamer can download media direct to their machine, with Kings Cross Train station to trial a WiFi hotspot which will allow gamers to download to their PSP’s. Game promos and jointly commissioned drama make up the PSP content and Christopher said that the ability to create and download user-generated content to the PSP is unlikely, particularly because of rights management problems.
Mark Watkins, director of mobile media at National Grid Wireless, was careful to make clear to broadcasters and producers that it is important not to get too caught up with selling the technological aspects of mobile TV to users, pointing out that Freeview users do not particularly care about the technology involved with that platform: “Mobile TV is not about technology. The technology is just making it possible. Content is an essential part of the service.”
He went on to say that mobile TV is a question of growth and development, where the main thing to recognise is that technology can enable but content will drive.