From the “next big thing” file, the latest in mobile’s long tradition of incredulous, industry-promoting “research studies” comes from Screen Digest, who conclude that there will be over 28 million mobile video subscribers in North America by 2011. That’s right folks… in a scant three years mobile video is expected to increase by a factor of 20! Never mind that recent surveys have demonstrated that US consumers have little interest in mobile video, or that m:metrics has shown that only 0.6 percent of US mobile subscribers are currently utilizing mobile video services.
The Screen Digest press release makes little mention of research methodology, other than that “The data in this press release is taken from Screen Digest’s latest report, Mobile TV: Business Models and Opportunities. The report includes analysis of the current market situation, business models and value chain, as well as analysis of the delivery mechanisms, broadcast technology and the impact of regulation. 25 countries are reviewed in the report.”
More than likely Screen Digest’s release and corresponding “report” are designed to fuel the speculative bubble that has enveloped the mobile space for the better part of the last decade, giving the pitchmen another bullet point in their case for the “huge, can’t miss opportunity” that is mobile video.
Too bad, really… as it’s “research” like this that has continued to misalign expectation of the channel, and usually only serves to thwart the efforts of legitimate mobile marketers in the space.
