MobiTV hits 4MM subscribers, but the world’s not ready to “pay”!

Article By: Joshua ‘The Red’ Russak (Red@aclion.com)
MobiTV global TV and digital radio service, recently stated in July 31st press release MobiTV Soars Past Four Million Subscribers it now has 4 million subscribers to its mobile TV and radio services, available in more than 15 carrier networks, including giants AT&T, and Sprint. The Service costs $10 monthly. Their competitors include Verizon, Modeo and Joost and Babelgum (on PCs).
That’s great for them and better for the mobile and online video industry, but According to Silicon Alley Insider article How Big Is The Market For Tiny, Mobile TV Ever Going To Get?

“It’s been more than 9 months since MobiTV announced its 3 millionth subscriber; it only took 8 months to get to 3 million (Oct. 22, ’07) from 2 million (Feb. 28, ’07).”

It looks as if their numbers are slowing in a time where Mobile capabilities are constantly increasing. Still, it’s alarming to see Mobitv.com’s site analytics! Take a look at their Unique Visitors decline over the past year:
That’s a 40% decrease this year, but that could be caused by many different factors and we also have to rely on their subscriber numbers over the visitor numbers any day! We also have to be aware of the fact that the “slow” increase can be blamed on usability level of smart-phones, limited 3G networks, etc? That could directly influence the amount of people willing to pay for mobile TV.
Again, according to the SAI (Silicon Alley Insider) article:

“About 4.8 million Americans — 2.1% of the U.S. mobile market — watched programmed TV/video at least once a month on their phones this spring, according to research firm comScore M:Metrics. Meanwhile, more than twice that — 11.7 million subscribers, or 5.2% of the market — watched free video sent by family or friends.”

But again, this brings us back to recent articles concerning online video metrics. Take a look at http://blog.aclion.com/video/ for more info to bring you up to speed. Other than that, things are looking up for MobiTV now and I’m going to follow their growth to see how it pans out over the next 2 years of which mobile capabilities will play a huge part. Familiarize yourselves with companies like these, because we are beginning to move into a highly-technical advanced MOBILE future where video plays a key role in both news, entertainment and advertising.