Cellular Mobile TV a 'Niche', but Still Drives Billions in Revenue

Thursday, September 9th, 2010
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Asia/Pacific to Lead Growth

It has been a rough few years for subscription mobile TV deployments, as a number of plans never came to fruition and several of those that were launched have been shut down. However, In-Stat sees a recovery in 2010, particularly in Asia/Pacific where cellular mobile TV subscriptions, which are frequently delivered over 3G networks, will reach nearly 95 million by 2014.

“Getting mobile subscribers to pay for TV services on their mobile devices has been daunting as users have clearly gravitated to free broadcast or Internet-based content on their phones,” according to Frank Dickson, VP Research for In-Stat. “As a result, pay mobile TV results have been disappointing, relegating cellular mobile TV as a niche service. However, niche services in cellular can still drive huge revenue.”

As 3G subscribers grow, the total potential market for mobile TV providers results in impressive market gains. For example, MobiTV subscriber growth and daily viewership for its mobile media service grew 49% from 2008-2009, for services that start at US$9.99 a month in the US.

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

  • Cellular mobile TV subscribers will generate over $15 billion in subscription revenue by 2014.
  • Asia/Pacific will drive mobile TV subscriptions, primarily in India and China.
  • Latin America will see subscription growth of 800% in digital mobile subscribers in 2010.
  • Mobile TV broadcasting standards remain fragmented by geographic region worldwide, with CMMB, ISDB-T (1seg), ATSC-M/H, DVB-H, MediafloFLO and DMB all finding deployments.

The research, “Worldwide Cellular and Broadcast Mobile TV” (#IN1004670MBS), covers the worldwide market for mobile TV. It includes:

  • Examination of worldwide broadcast and cellular mobile TV markets, including drivers and barriers in different regions.
  • Overview of business models.
  • Forecasts of mobile TV subscribers and viewers, revenue, and average revenue per user (ARPU) by region.
  • Market analysis of mobile TV technologies.

For a free sample of the report and more information contact Elaine Potter, epotter@in-stat.com; (480) 483-4441