Future of Viewable Digital Media: Give People What They Want, On Devices They Want, And When They Want It!
When MTV (Music Television) launched over two decades ago in August 1981, the first music video played was “Video Killed the Radio Star”. Appropriately, considering its subject matter and timing, the song really marked the end of an era - television and video took over the hearts of youth. According to recent study by LA Times and Bloomberg study, the same fate is about to happen to mobile TV/video before their prime.
The results of survey are in line with several other studies by independent research firms. Youths find small display devices extremely undesirable when it comes to viewable media content . With a current user base of 1-3% out of all mobile users, these services requires some drastic changes in order to success.
Give people what they want, on devices they want, and when they want it!
The above sentence is a quotation from the mouth of George Kliavkoff, NBC Universal’s first chief digital officer. IMO it captures perfectly the sense of times, and requirements common people place for any digital media. Below is a small comparison (a very simplified SWOT-analysis) I did between “TV+DVD, PC+Online media, Phone/IPod + Mobile Online media” combinations:
Give people what they want
| DVD / CD | Online Media | Mobile Media | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Selection | Huge | Medium | Low |
| Ease of availability | Easy | Varying (very country-specific) | Varying (very country-specific) |
| Quality | Extremely Good | Good | Medium or low |
…on devices they want…
| Traditional Monitor (TV) | PC Display (LCD,CTR) | Mobile device | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Selection | Huge | Huge | Medium |
| Ease of availability | Easy | Easy | Easy |
| Quality and Screen Size |
With modern devices the display quality is usually extremely good. Available screen sizes in common consumer devices range between 15" to 63". Models with higher screen size are also available. |
With modern devices the display quality is usually extremely good. Available screen sizes in common consumer devices range between 17" to 21 ". Models with higher screen size are also available. |
With modern devices the display quality is usually very good. Available screen sizes are usually between 1.5 - 4" |
| Cost |
Technical lifespan: 25,000 hours(CTR), 30-60,000 hours (LCD, Plasma Screen). An average consumer related lifespan of television is 7-10 years. Example: a 32" LCD pays approx. 1,500 euro. This makes the average annual ownership cost 150-220 euro.
|
Technical lifespan: 12-15,000 hours (CRT), 30-60,000 hours (LDC). An average consumer related lifespan of pc / pc display is 2-3years. Example: an external 20" LCD pays approx. 500 euro. This makes the average annual ownership cost 170-250 euro. |
Technical lifespan: varying. An average consumer related lifespan of mobile device is 18 months. Example: Nokia N73 pays approx. 600 euro. This makes the average annual ownership cost 400 euro. |
…and when they want it
| TV+DVD / Downloaded content | Laptop PC | Smart Phone / iPod | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Battery powered | No | Yes | Yes |
| Battery life while watching movie | n/a | approx. 1-3 hours | approx. 0-3 hours |
| Ease of indoor usage (i.e. home, hotel) |
Requires electricity and a separate desk/space to place set. However, most indoor buildings and homes meet these requirements. |
Very easy |
Very easy |
| Ease of outdoor usage (i.e. on train, outdoors) | Not recommended as TV-set is something not to carry around. |
Very easy |
Very easy |
Summarized
With the above charts summarized, I can’t see any sensible reasons for mobile TV /video, or any other small screen viewable media service to success outside the scope of very random usage and niche services. There simply is too little with a price too high.
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