“This is a great example of research that is not helpful in making investment and partnering decisions, and this outcome could have been predicted before the study went to the field.
“Instead of asking consumers the questions in the study, try this simple thought experiment:
- What percentage of the population watches one or more TV shows regularly?
- Are there live events that caused people to seek out live TV wherever they were? It’s easy to think of several, including the OJ chase, 9-11, the flight that landed in the Hudson, many major sports championships, and the inauguration.
“The question isn’t, ‘Do you want mobile video?’ Instead, it’s, ‘If you heard that [name of event] was being broadcast right now, would you be interested in seeing a live broadcast? [If yes,] Where would you go to watch it? If you also had the option of watching it right here right now using a high resolution color screen handset that you already owned with a plan that you already had, how likely would you be to pull it out of your pocket or purse and watch it now?’
“The challenge for the industry isn’t whether or not people want it or will use it once it’s mainstream, but rather developing the enabling infrastructure and identifying the business model that supports the reliable, affordable, easy-to-use delivery of live video.”
A later comment from another reader pointed out that the article immediately following this one proved the point that compelling live video content will pull people to mobile video, reporting this finding:
“More than 2.7 million unique visitors checked out digital coverage of Thursday’s opening round of the 2009 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship according to CBSSports.com, which adds that traffic increased 56 percent over last year’s first-day total. Perhaps even more notable, CBSSports.com reports that its new NCAA March Madness on Demand iPhone application, which provides sports live streaming tournament video to iPhone and iPod touch devices, topped the paid application rankings in Apple’s App Store.”
