Telephia Reports on Mobile TV Viewing

By Stefania Viscusi

TMCnet Assistant Editor

 

Just as the popularity of mobile TV is on the rise, Telephia, provider of consumer research for the communications and new media market, is measuring viewership and providing the stats.

 

Earlier this month, TMCnet's Robert Liu reported that "Telephia's “Mobile TV Diary Report”  estimated the mobile TV audience grew 45 percent to 3.7 million subscribers in the second quarter of 2006. Total quarterly mobile TV revenues increased 67 percent sequentially to $86 million."

 

The "Mobile TV Diary Report", which measures mobile TV viewership with both streaming TV and video on demand, also uncovered some interesting facts about the who and when of mobile TV viewing.

 

Chances are that between twelve and four p.m., most of us are at work, school, or tending to some daily task. But that doesn’t stop us from watching some TV, especially not with the convenience mobility has brought to the table. In fact, a news release about the findings of Telephia's research report notes that the mid-afternoon and early evening hours are the highest usage times for mobile TV as 36 percent of mobile subscribers are tuning in. Those numbers jump to 31 percent between four and eight p.m.

 

And according to the news release, everyone is using it. Demographics from the US found that 70 percent of males are mobile video users, 30 percent are female. Twenty-seven percent of Hispanics and 16 percent of African Americans utilize mobile TV, compared to the 11 percent of total mobile subscribers in that demographic. The report also found that of the 24 percent of Caucasians who are mobile subscribers, only 42 percent use mobile video.

 

And though new technologies like this seem like something today's youth would be more likely to adopt first, the report found that 50 percent of mobile video users were actually between 25 and 36 years old.

 

Regardless if you are traveling in your car, at home, or in the office, mobile TV is making it possible to view shows or movies, on demand. And that’s just what users are doing. Twenty two percent of viewing is done at home, another 22 percent while commuting, 16 percent while shopping, (don’t know which is more tricky, watching TV while driving, or pushing a shopping cart through supermarket aisles while watching) and 14 percent of viewers are found to be watching their mobile TV's while at work (tisk, tisk!)

 

Not yet however is mobile TV taking the place of curling up in front of the big TV screen after eight o'clock to watch your favorite primetime shows. Between the hours of eight and eleven p.m., mobile TV viewing was found to drop to only nine percent.

 

"The TV at home is a household device that people often have to share. On the other hand, the cell phone is as personal a device you can get, and it allows consumers to watch what they want, when they want and where they want," explained Kanishka Agarwal, VP of New Products, Telephia in a statement to the press.

 

For more please visit: www.telephia.com