Archive notice: This article was originally published on November 11, 2005. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
The great interest of mobile communications and content providers in introducing TV offerings for mobile phones is becoming increasingly clear, the Berlin consulting company Goldmedia finds in a market analysis. In addition, national and international pilot trials would show that there is considerable user potential for Mobile TV and that consumers also want to use their television contents on mobile phones. The study “Mobile TV 2010. Market Potential for Mobile Television via T-DMB and DVB-H in Germany” analyzes all areas relevant to a market launch. It was supported by NBC Universal Global Networks and Net Mobile AG.
While the interests in previous mobile entertainment offerings such as ringtones, logos or games are limited to certain user groups, according to Goldmedia a much broader acceptance can be expected for mobile-phone TV: In various representative European surveys, up to 80 percent of respondents reportedly expressed a positive view of Mobile TV offerings. The average willingness to pay ranged from 5 euros to 12.50 euros per month.
Through its ubiquity, personalization options and the integration of interactive elements, Mobile TV can have a lasting influence on media usage behavior. Whereas television was previously largely confined to the home, more frequent, shorter television consumption distributed throughout the day is to be expected for Mobile TV. Content providers would also have to adapt to this, the study concludes. The usage scenarios for mobile TV are directly compatible with only a few program categories of stationary television. At least an adaptation of the content is therefore absolutely necessary. Beyond this, the production of completely new, appropriately tailored program formats appears sensible, the analysis says.
Two transmission technologies are currently competing on the German market: DVB-H and T-DMB. T-DMB frequencies are available almost nationwide, so that commercial services via them are conceivable as early as 2006. By contrast, a Mobile TV offering via DVB-H could begin no earlier than 2007, particularly in urban areas, and allow a substantially greater variety of programming. According to study author Andreas
Klein, one possible development scenario is that both transmission technologies are initially operated in parallel and later converge technically by means of DXB.
The study describes various rollout scenarios for the introduction of Mobile TV. In the realistic case, Goldmedia assumes a market launch in 2007, with a pay model implemented with high probability. For 2010, Goldmedia forecasts revenue at the end-customer level of around 450 million euros.
“There is already excellently suitable content for mobile TV today. But adaptations are of course necessary,” explains Theo Niehues, CEO of Net Mobile AG: “In addition, all possibilities for interaction must be fully exploited in order to create viewer loyalty.”
