Smartphone.biz-news.com asked Christian Harris, CEO of mobile video provider Gorillabox, for his views on the mobile TV market
More and more younger viewers are eschewing traditional TV schedules and embracing new technology – mobile TV, DVRs, online streaming and downloading – to set their own viewing schedules.
So much so, that research just released reveals the average age of those watching TV in the US has tipped 50 for the first time.
The study of the big five US broadcast networks by research firm Magna Global shows the average viewer no longer falls within the 18-49 demographic so sought after by advertisers.
While average viewing age figures for the UK are not available, research by entertainment analysts Attentional shows viewing time among those aged 16-34 has been declining faster than other age groups.
This is a situation of which Christian Harris, CEO of mobile video provider Gorillabox, is fully aware.
He believes that mobile viewing will rapidly become a prime means of consuming content for the 14-28 market.
“Significant consumer segments don’t consume media on radio or TV any more,” he said. “It is either web or mobile.
“For this audience, mobile is a key channel for content. To serve the mobile channel for this audience, mobile broadcasting is a primary capability.
“The question isn’t ‘why should you?’ – it’s ‘why wouldn’t you?’”
Last month, Gorillabox partnered with the AIDS charity 46664 and mobile operator 3 to provide mobile TV content from Nelson Mandela’s birthday concert.
Video of artists such as Amy Winehouse, Razorlight, Annie Lennox and Queen was streamed live over mobile networks across the UK from London’s Hyde Park.
Gorillabox was responsible for the deployment of content on the streaming platform, billing integration and customer care, while 46664 marketed the service and worked with Gorillabox on making the live video content available from the concert.
Harris said the mobile portal improved accessibility to music videos from some of the world’s biggest musicians and celebrities.
“Large-scale events need to be fully supported by multi-channel content distribution,” he said.
“This used to be radio and TV and more recently web. However, this now also includes mobile.”
A recent survey by mobile TV and video solutions provider QuickPlay Media revealed significant barriers hindering users from consuming TV and video content on their mobile phones – factors included lack of awareness of the services that are on offer and the perceived high costs involved.
But the survey showed that demand for mobile TV existed with 65 per cent of those questioned, who said they would be willing to watch an advertisement if it meant that the content was free or discounted.
The 3G iPhone could have a significant impact on the mobile TV market as research shows that many iPhone owners have accessed TV and video content with greater frequency than subscribers using other types of mobile handsets.
With added 3G capability, the iPhone brings with it some attractive attributes to the mobile TV market, including video-friendly specifications, access to a rapidly increasing range of Apple TV and video content and the ability to support multiple methods of delivering TV and video (sideloading, indoor WLAN and high-speed 3G cellular data access).
Harris said Gorillabox runs its own delivery technology called the G-box platform .
Developed in-house, he said the platform could handle any content or media format over GPRS or 3G networks to any mobile phone in the European Union and the US.
He said Gorillabox was able to deliver live and on-demand media from any location in the world via its UK data-centre to mobile devices.
“We also enable the discovery of the services via mobile search,” he added.
“Our objective is to make the event as visible and reachable as possible and, where appropriate, provide advertising and billing.”
There’s no doubt mobile TV content is going to become increasingly accessible.
Christian Harris asked “why wouldn’t you watch mobile content?” – we would be really interested to hear your views?
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