A report suggests viewership of television on analog mobile devices has grown much slower than expected. However, those who do have the technology watch for longer each day than had been forecast.

Tech research firm In-Stat says two-thirds of mobile TV viewers watch around half an hour of footage each day, while in Japan and Korea the average is more than an hour.

That’s much more than had been expected in the early days of the technology when it was seen as a service people would watch in brief chunks. One possible explanation is that people are more likely today to watch coverage of live news events on a mobile device than to merely stick to brief news bulletins.

The report also found a clear link between viewing time and the way the devices are used, with commuters using mass transit most likely to spend longer periods watching mobile TV. Some of the varying patterns of use across different countries may simply be down to how long average commuting times are in different work cultures.

Surprisingly there wasn’t much of a link between the technical quality of the broadcasts and how popular they were. Mobile TV is particularly popular in Indonesia even though users there are generally unimpressed with the picture, audio and reception on offer. The report authors suggest that this may be a technology where users are particularly willing to trade quality for convenience.

The report concludes that analog mobile TV is most popular in areas with comparatively low incomes. This means it’s less likely to be profitable to set-up the technology for digital mobile TV in these areas, and people are less likely to be willing to pay subscription fees.

Because of this, the authors forecast that while analog mobile viewership this year will only be around 54 million people, the number will wise rapidly and should top 300 million within four years.

Related:

Entry was posted on Monday, August 24th, 2009 at 12:00 pm under Cell phones, Media players.

Read more entries by John Lister.
Stumble It!