World Cup to Spark Mobile TV Boom, says Informa

Mobile TV may be in its infancy, but by 2011, 210 million consumers will subscribe to Mobile TV services worldwide, and 10% of all handsets sold will have a broadcast receiver. Thats the conclusion of a report due out at the end of the month from Informa Telecoms & Media.  The study, Mobile TV: Broadcast and Mobile Multimedia says the World Cup, which starts today, has provided the spark for the launch of a number of  broadcast services in Europe, led by 3 in Italy and Debitel in Germany. Informa anticipates that users accessing World Cup action via streaming and broadcast services will generate $300m (163 million) of revenue. 
Mobile TV will ultimately owe its success to the type and format of content that is made available, the report says, adding that one of the primary objectives of the broadcast technology trials underway from the likes of BT Movio in the UK and BSkyB and Qualcomm in Europe, is to discover the best type of content for mobile and short-mode use. Two formats, it says, are proving most popular. The first, Mobisodes, uses custom made-for-mobile episodes of hit TV shows, such as 24. The second, Simulcast, involves transmitting the programmes that users are familiar with from traditional television in real-time or alongside the TV broadcast. The 2006 Fifa World Cup, the report says, will probably see examples of both formats. 

"This year's World Cup will prove a major catalyst for mobile TV growth says David McQueen, Senior Analyst at Informa and author of the report. It will give operators a chance to show what they can already do and test consumer demand. But the real growth will  take place over the next five years. As soon as the 2008 Olympics, we'll all be much more prepared to watch TV on our phones, and by the 2010 World Cup the infrastructure will be mature and one in thirteen mobile phone users worldwide will  own a mobile TV handset.
The report also considers the technical and business issues that have had to be resolved in order for mobile TV to reach a viable platform from which to launch. Technical standards for mobile TV have been emerging, it says, and the next five years will see a proliferation of devices operating on different mobile TV technical standards including DVB-H, MediaFlo and T-DMB. By 2011, Informa forecasts that DVB-H handsets will form the bulk of all broadcast receiver handset sales (63%), equating to 73 million units, followed by MediaFLO devices with sales expected to reach 14.5 million.
Since the first broadcast mobile devices were launched in early  2005 by Samsung and LG for the Korean market, the size and form factor of the new crop of devices for 2006 has improved immeasurably, the report says. Many of the newer models have swivel screens to allow for widescreen viewing, and each handset invariably incorporates a high resolution, high colour, anti-glare screen. Sound quality is of high importance in the device, with stereo speakers added to most, as it is this characteristic which is perceived as the yardstick of the overall TV experience, irrespective of picture quality. Battery life issues have  largely been resolved; current generation devices can sustain 3-4 hours continuous playback against a typical user profile of 3 hours use per week, based on trial information.
The report also says that Mobile TV will be adopted at different rates in different  regions as the necessary broadcast infrastructure is put in  place and as handsets begin to proliferate Asia-Pacific will lead the way, with 95.1 million anticipated subscribers by 2011, as innovative services from Korean operators continue to gain traction in that market and China and Japan follow suit.
Europe, with its relatively advanced infrastructure will see 68.7 million subscribers by 2011, with spikes as operators  launch services to coincide with the 2006 Fifa World Cup and  again in 2009 when a more complete infrastructure base is likely to be achieved. Middle East and Africa will follow with  9.5 million subscribers in 2011 and The Americas with 9.1  million.
"TV is a medium that everyone understands, and so is mobile says McQueen. Combining the two in the  imagination of consumers is not as great a challenge as it is for other forms of mobile entertainment. But whilst people buy into the idea of mobile TV, some of the finer details are yet to be fully resolved: finding a suitable price point and delivering compelling content to name two. This year we think we will see these issues begin to be fully resolved and the rapid uptake of mobile TV devices and services will commence.
The Mobile TV Strategic Report - 2nd Edition  provides a detailed, thorough analysis of the mobile and broadcasting industries, including likely factors for the success of competing technologies; in-depth analysis of the business case for Mobile TV; case-studies of major players and the value chain; and subscriber forecasts & revenue opportunities.
We'll have details of pricing and how to order when the report is published.