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Wednesday, 18 June 2008 |
Mobile TV held back in
UK
by lack of awareness says survey…
In what is termed an independent Market Tools survey commissioned by mobile TV and video solutions provider QuickPlay Media it has emerged that there are several barriers preventing people consuming TV and video content on their mobile phones. Chief among these – at least in the
UK
– are lack of awareness of the mobile TV and video services on offer (44% of individuals canvassed) and perceived (high) cost (33%).
“Operators across the world have invested heavily in improving their network structures to handle high-speed data transfer, but as an industry it seems that we are challenged by the last hurdle in marketing and selling these innovative data-based services to the public” comments QuickPlay Media ceo Wayne Purboo. “There is a clear lack of awareness by end-users about what services they can enjoy, and what it will cost them to start watching.”
What to do to rectify the situation? The cost concern could be self-liquidating, courtesy of lower pricing resulting from the adoption by service providers of an advertising model, backed up by the introduction of all-you-can-eat flat rate mobile data packages.
“The survey shows that perceived cost is a key barrier to mobile TV and video consumption in the UK so one option for operators and content owners is an advertising-based mobile TV and video offering – a solution that we have successfully rolled out with some of our customers in other parts of the world,” reasons Purboo. “Furthermore, the shift by European operators to offer unlimited data packages will start to remove the barriers for consumers to test and adopt data-based services such as mobile TV and video.”
QuickPlay Media is less forthcoming with regard to solving the mobile TV lack of awareness issue. However, while it’s not always possible to draw general conclusions from the experience of one market, there may be some clues contained in the findings of a post-sale mobile TV survey carried out in
China
and published at the end of April. Conducted by Telegent Systems, a fabless CMOS semiconductor company providing single-chip solutions for free-to-air and pay-per-view mobile TV in mobile handsets, the survey found that that key drivers for consumer awareness have been hands-on experience at the retail store (49%) and recommendations from friends and family (35%). More passive channels, such as TV and the Internet, played a much less significant role, suggesting that personal experience with the TV feature either at or prior to the point of purchase has been key to spurring initial uptake.
John Williamson |
