Mobile TV Not Ready for Primetime

With camera phones growing in popularity, can phones that receive TV services be far behind? Actually, it seems that most mobile phone users in the U.S. aren’t really interested, according to aggregated data in the eMarketer eStat Database. A Lyra Research survey of 1,361 U.S. mobile phone users found that over 50% are either “not at all” or “not very” interested in watching TV on their mobile phones or other handheld devices. Only 32% showed some interest and a mere 9% are very interested in mobile TV services. Among the hurdles operators will have to overcome are consumer skepticism about the quality of programming and growing concerns about inappropriate phone usage. The news isn’t all bad, though: younger adult respondents to the Lyra Research survey displayed the strongest level of interest in mobile TV, making them the best target for marketing efforts.