Wireless Execs: Mobile TV Still Years Away
- by Mark Walsh @markfwal, September 15, 2006
The study, presented this week at the CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2006 conference, also found that mobile video would result in only an extra $5 in average revenue per user by 2009.
For advertisers, mobile TV represents a venue that is as targeted as paid search and as "high-impact" as television commercials, according to the Mercer study. "However, given modest adoption expectations, this value proposition could be tempered by advertisers' perceptions of insufficient scale versus paid search and other emerging formats," said Martin Kon, a Mercer Management director, in the report.
Even if mobile video were to add no additional revenue, including it in wireless plans could still help to improve subscriber loyalty and raise handset prices, Kon said.
Wireless executives were more optimistic that technological improvements would lead to greater use of the wireless Web by 2009. They also believe that mobile location-based services will become widespread by then, generating added revenue from a combination of subscriptions, advertising and pay-per-use fees.
The study found no consensus on whether MP3-enabled mobile phones would supplant the iPod and other standalone music players in the next three years. But 71 percent of respondents expect MP3 phones to be in wide use by 2009.
Content owners and wireless carriers were viewed as the likely "big winners" in mobile entertainment, while technology manufacturers needed most to improve their offerings.
For the report, Mercer surveyed 300 industry-related executives representing wireless carriers, content owners, device and equipment manufacturers, venture and investment banking firms, and software companies.
A report released this week by research firm eMarketer likewise said that spending on mobile entertainment was small for now--accounting for around $1.1 billion this year--but would grow to around $15 billion by 2010.
