Advanced Television

RESEARCH: India leads in monetising mobile content

February 16, 2012

A global survey commissioned by new media delivery specialist Vidiator has found that India is leading the way in monetising mobile content with 50 per cent of people having paid for mobile video content. This compares to just 26 per cent in the UK and 47 per cent in Malaysia. However over two thirds of people would be willing to pay for content – but only if service providers can address some major quality of experience challenges.

The survey of 1,500 people across the UK, India and Malaysia, found that people’s current experience of watching mobile video content on portable devices is blighted by problems including poor quality images and slow and inconsistent load times. The good news for content providers and mobile operators is that, while not many people are currently paying for video, the majority would if the service on offer was good enough.

The survey found that while mobile video is a popular format, people are frustrated by poor quality content that takes too long to load. This new media revolution is being driven by the consumers and the biggest problem with content is the slow load time and buffering, with over 50 per cent of people in the UK, 68 per cent in India and a massive 89 per cent of people in Malaysia dissatisfied with the time it takes video to load.

Poor picture and sound quality was another big complaint, with 61 per cent of Malaysian consumers saying that videos are often not good enough, this compares to 33 per cent in India but just 19 per cent of UK people. Those in the UK instead complain of interruptions to playback spoiling their video experience, something suffered by 41 per cent of subscribers.

Despite this, in the UK 73 per cent of people have already paid for mobile video or would consider it in the future; this compares to 64 per cent in India and 74 per cent in Malaysia. India leads the way with over 50 per cent of people already paying for mobile video, ahead of 47 per cent of people in Malaysia and just 26 per cent in the UK.

“Video consumption on tablets and mobiles is widely expected to double in the first six months of 2012. These results confirm that there is clearly a big global appetite for good quality mobile video content and that people are prepared to pay for it,” said Tae Sung Park, CEO, Vidiator. “Poor quality content and slow delivery is putting people off using video more often and the results show that operators aren’t yet making the most of the huge mobile video opportunity. Content providers are facing a big challenge of how to monetise video and these results show what they need to do – deliver good quality content and do it quickly.”

Categories: Articles, Markets, Mobile, Mobile TV, Research