More worrying news for mobile industry players who are pinning their hopes on mobile TV – there are more ex-users than users. Specifically, a survey of 22,000 European mobile service users commissioned by Tellabs revealed that former users of mobile TV and video now outnumber current users by more than 19%.
The research, conducted by M:Metrics in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France and Spain, cited price, reliability and quality issues as the main turn-offs.
“Pricing has already been highlighted as a stumbling block for recurrent use of mobile video and TV services, but we were surprised by just how much value users place on quality and reliability,” said Paul Goode, senior analyst at M:Metrics.
“Once the basic requirements of quality and reliability are good enough, the focus will rightly shift to issues of programming, brands and marketing in addition to price. This research highlights the need to address quality and reliability so the industry can retain viewers, which is a key part of growing audience numbers.”
Forty-five percent of European mobile video and TV users cited pricing issues as a factor causing them to switch off the services. And nearly a quarter (24%) of users who had tried mobile video and TV stopped using it due to concerns about service quality and reliability.
The split between perception and reality was most pronounced in the UK. Only 6% of those who had never used mobile TV and video cited quality and reliability as reasons not to try such services, but 29% of users had stopped using services because of quality and reliability.
“Pricing has already been highlighted as a stumbling block for recurrent use of mobile video and TV services, but we were surprised by just how much value users place on quality and reliability,” said Paul Goode, senior analyst at M:Metrics.
“Once the basic requirements of quality and reliability are good enough, the focus will rightly shift to issues of programming, brands and marketing in addition to price. This research highlights the need to address quality and reliability so the industry can retain viewers, which is a key part of growing audience numbers.”
Forty-five percent of European mobile video and TV users cited pricing issues as a factor causing them to switch off the services. And nearly a quarter (24%) of users who had tried mobile video and TV stopped using it due to concerns about service quality and reliability.
The split between perception and reality was most pronounced in the UK. Only 6% of those who had never used mobile TV and video cited quality and reliability as reasons not to try such services, but 29% of users had stopped using services because of quality and reliability.