Phone users today demand high-quality mobile streaming video on their phones and other wireless devices. And MobiTV, a privately held technology company, is rising to the challenge. The Emeryville, California business now dominates the market with ten million subscribers.
The company delivers mobile streaming video and audio with its content partners (NBC, MTV, ABC, FOX, ESPN) to all major U.S. carriers. Its technology enables live, video on demand (VOD) and stored multimedia on over 400 mobile phones, personal computers and tablets via cellular or Wi-Fi networks.
MobiTV Partnerships
Celebrating its tenth year in business, MobiTV with ESPN recently streamed over 100 million minutes of the World Cup soccer tournament . That’s equivalent to one viewer spending over 62,000 consecutive days in front of a TV. The event also generated one million downloads of its iPhone app and increased paid subscriptions by 200%. (Average viewing time is 31 minutes.)
Mobile Streaming Video – Tricia Higgins
Tricia Higgins, former VP of Strategic Partnerships at the company, talks about the company’s growth and mobile streaming video in her podcast interview. In particular, she points out the heightened engagement by Android users, who view 25% more minutes than other mobile phone consumers. MobiTV’s recent support of the Sprint HTC EVO, Motorola Backflip, and T-Mobile’s Samsung Vibrant helps attract Android phone users to its service.
During the interview, Tricia discusses the future of mobile streaming video and MobiTV. She believes that cloud computing will expand rapidly, permitting consumers to access media across devices. 4G wireless networks will also improve the user experience with its higher bandwidth and improved video and sound quality.
An Associated Press story, released today, describes how mobile video streaming on smartphones with larger screens competes with traditional television viewing:
Instead of gathering to turn our faces to the blue glow of the living-room set, maybe we’ll curl up, each in our own little world, with a phone or tablet in our lap. They don’t look as good as HDTV’s, but we won’t have to fight over remotes anymore. An iPhone held 7.5 inches from my eye looks just as big as a 46-inch TV, 10 feet away.”
While Tricia agrees to some extent, she points out the social aspect when watching television with others. Mobile convergence, however, is changing how individuals consume media. They may download content to one device, then view it on another where they left off. It’s similar to reading an e-book on a Kindle, pausing, then continuing to read on an iPad.
The company is a strong believer in communicating with customers. Its Facebook group site, Twitter page and company blog engage users in the company and offer news about the service. The customer care team at the company also uses social media to resolve customer issues.
Learn more about the dynamic world of mobile streaming video by listening to the podcast.
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