IT market research and advisory firm Springboard Research have released a report which says that mobile TV services in India are growing tremendously, with growth expected to reach $360 million within this year itself.
For a growth of such astronomical figures to be reached, mobile TV service providers will have to deliver on-demand, pay-per-view options while avoiding monthly subscription from their customers.
Mobile TV services allow people to watch TV whenever and wherever on their mobile phones.
The report was based on a study of 1,215 mobile users from six major cities in India. The objective of this study was to understand the mobile entertainment needs in the country.
The study found that mobile TV subscription would be able to touch the penetration level of 5-6 % of the total subscriber base in the first year of operations itself. It also came to be known that 84 % of consumers will access this service only if it is affordable and easily available.
Additionally, approximately 60 % of the same segments of users have showed interest in watching the same content that is available on television, including news, sports, music videos and game shows.
According to Ravi Shekkar Pandey, Manager-Syndicate Research, Springboard Research, “Mobile TV marries the two dominant consumption trends of entertainment and mobile telephony in India. The market is ripe for the launch of mobile TV services and we believe that India will have around 122 million mobile TV subscribers within the first year of launch of the service.”
“Mobile telephone operators will have an advantage over standalone mobile TV operators in that the former already have user subscribing to their value-added services. However, the success of either operator would be dependent on content offered and price charged for the service,” Pandey added.
As of now, Doordarshan offers mobile TV service. But, it is still not accessible by all. It is known that mobile phone companies like Nokia, Qualcomm, Spice Telecom and Samsung have been promoting the adoption of mobile TV across India.