TV taking a back seat to the Mobile & PC

We probably didn’t have to wait to IBM to know that television has an inspiring past and unclear future. But, still the new IBM study about consumer digital media and entertainment habits, offer a very fascination view about the future of TV, Internt and mobile devices.

Interesting findings we think it’s worth mention are:

Internet vs. TV – 66% reported viewing between 1 to 4 hours of TV per day, versus 60% who reported the same levels of personal Internet usage.

Mobile Video – 7% reported having a video content subscription for their mobile phones. For respondents in Germany who had watched mobile video, 23% prefer to view user generated content, and 21% prefer video trailers or promotions.

Mobile TV - Nearly third UK users who watch mobile TV reduced their standard TV set viewing patterns as a result of new mobile device services.

Social networks - Consumers are increasingly contributing to online video or social networking sites: 9% of German and 7% of U.S. respondents claim to have contributed to a user-generated content site. In Australia, 36% of the participant in the survey contributing to social networking sites and 9% contributing to video content sites.

This power shift from was well summarized by Saul Berman, IBM Media & Entertainment Strategy who said that, "The Internet is becoming consumers' primary entertainment source. The TV is increasingly taking a back seat to the cell phone and the personal computer among consumers age 18 to 34.”

Mobile user-generated content revenues will grow to $5.7 billion in 2012

Juniper Research come up today with a very interesting numbers. The telecoms analyst firm forecast that mobile user-generated content (UGC) revenues from social networking, dating and personal content delivery services will increase from $572 million in 2007 to more than $5.7 billion in 2012.

Mobile social networking will contribute $2.85 billion in 2012, as the number of active users of mobile social networking sites is expected to rise from 14 million in 2007 to nearly 600 million in the next five years.

While mobile UGC services are in their infancy, a digital content players like the South Korean social network Mobile Cyworld, are already generating substantial revenues for their operators. Furthermore, the volume of downloads from mobile personal content delivery sites such as the 3 mobile TV channel, SeeMeTV, are expected to rise from less than 200 million in 2007 to more than 9 billion in 2012.

Dr Windsor Holden, the analyst of this new report, predicts that Off-portal social networking sites will increasingly opt for free-to-consumer, and ad-funded business models will gain visibility and market presence. Why? He did not say it explicit, but we think its related to one of his key finding, that high data charges remain a key hurdle to mass service adoption.

UK mobile operators failed to offer relevant services to their subscribers

Mobile users in UK are unhappy with the way that mobile operators are currently marketing their voice and data services, according to findings of new survey by GfK NOP.

70% of 752 mobile phone users that participated in the survey consider the marketing offers they receive not to be relevant to them and 64% of these confess to being annoyed by them. Just 11% of those surveyed had ever purchased an item, or signed up for a special promotion or bundle as a result of an online promotion or offer from their mobile service provider.

The survey, commissioned by mobile marketing delivery platforms provider Pontis, reveals that 57% of teenagers and young adult feel that the services they are offered today are irrelevant. This age group also declared itself to be the most irritated by receiving marketing spam, and close to half of them are willing to change operators to one that can provide them with marketing offers and services more tailored to their lifestyles.

“These results are proof of the fact that the mass marketing approach most operators still take today is not working,” said Guy Talmi, Senior Marketing Director at Pontis.”It shows that their inability to tailor services and content to the individual user’s interests and to attract new revenue streams.”

The survey also highlights how mobile operators are failing to capture the imagination of the baby boomer generation, with 75% of 45-54 year olds and 78% of 55-64 year olds viewing the marketing offers they receive as irrelevant to them.