Disqus
Some new numbers on Mobile TV’s take-up (or not!) in Korea haev emerged – and by Mobile TV in this instance, I am referring to the broadcast variety using the DMB standard. DMB can include both Terrestrial (T-DMB) and Satellite (S-DMB), but these stats lump those together – and the numbers still aint good!
Apparently there are about 13.7mn DMB-enabled receivers, and of those Mobile “phones” (they are not really just phones any more, are they) accounted for 48 or so percent. Just as a brief aside, Car Nav system were another 38%, PMPs at 9%, and then USB devices at 4%.
Anyhoo, it’s the viewership we are interested in, and apparently this is still tiny: overall viewer rating for the day was just 1.172 percent, peaking at 3.585 percent during the commuting hours of 6 to 7 p.m. in the survey. And, even more surprising: male viewers in their 50s proved the largest audience for mobile TV rather than the convention wisdow that tech-savvy youngsters would be watching TV on the go. Viewership was also relatively high among men in their 40s and 30s, but minuscule among women and younger customers.
So there we have it – really not high numbers at all, for a service that has been repeatedly heralded as the next big ARPU generator. It’s a big shame I think, because I’m all for any service that adds genuine value to the subscriber – and I think Mobile TV has the potential to do that. Perhaps the right “model” (in respect of content, financials, infrastructure, and devices) hasn’t been found yet – although I’ve a feeling the right model may well involve the word “free“…
[Via: washingtonpost.com]
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
