Mobile TV - Hit and Miss

An interesting survey from QuickPlay Media has revealed that while 41% of consumers have watched TV or video on their phones, 44% do not even know if their operator offers mobile TV.

So pretty impressive penetration rates and also a shocking lack of awareness.

So which is it – is mobile TV a Hit or a Miss?

To be honest for me mobile TV is definitely a miss – I wouldn’t ever want to watch twenty minutes of Eastenders (for our non-UK readers – a dodgy London based soap opera that charts the different levels of misery that our nation’s capital drives people to) while stuck in my cattle-truck of a commuter train. Mobile video on the other hand – a round up of last night’s The Apprentice, or a summary of the game from Euro 2008 – that’s a winner. But do people really need a mobile for that? With the internet (and mobile internet) and iPods etc, do I need to subscribe to mobile video?

From the survey though, it seems that many people are keen to watch. Other stats include:

– 33% have watched for upto 60 minutes or longer

– 65% said they’d be willing to watch ads if it meant a free or discounted service

The press release doesn’t say how many people were surveyed, but it does say that the UK results closely matched those for the US.