Video Streaming Services from MobiTV

Jay Hinman talks about Video Streaming Services

When I interviewed Tricia Higgins at MobiTV about its live video streaming services last year, the company had 10 million customers. That’s grown to over 15 million with no end in sight.

Through its carrier partners–AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile–other broadband services like AT&T U-Verse and content producers, MobiTV meets consumers’ extraordinary demands for multimedia on smartphones, tablet computers and home TV’s. MobiNow is its iPad mobile app.

In our audio interview, Jay Hinman, former Senior Director of Marketing, now with Neumob, points out an interesting trend: as mobile device screen size increases, live video streaming demand rises.

He compares the “early years” when consumers watched two-inch mobile phone screen videos to today’s larger 4-5 inch smartphone displays.

Consumers are gobbling up video like hungry relatives at Thanksgiving dinner.

Will 4G Wireless Broadband Save Us?

While wireless carriers rapidly deploy 4G networks to handle the growing bandwidth demand, The Washington Post reports that Netflix, once known for its super-fast DVD shipping, has grown its customer base to 20 million from 12 million a year ago. Its video streaming services–primarily movies–consumes 1/5 of all U.S. bandwidth.

Then there’s Comcast, the largest cable company in the U.S. Through the Xfinity service, Comcast now streams video over tablet computers.

As old media (print) morphs into new media (digital), the Wall Street Journal and other print/online publications are releasing their own smartphone and tablet apps. With video streaming services on its home page, the Journal is increasing its appeal to newspaper readers who also want video.

End result? The carriers are struggling madly to offer 4G wireless while leveraging Wi-Fi which, according to the New York Times, also is in short supply.

MobiTV Grows Customer Base

Besides growing its customer base from 10 to 15 million in a year, MobiTV consumers have increased its minute usage by 59% with Android OS phones at the top. (The T-Mobile Samsung 4G S series is a good example.) iOS and BlackBerry usage is also way up.

When I asked Jay about competition from other companies, he commented that MobiTV has the advantage of early experience with mobile, giving it a leg-up while its competitors focus elsewhere. For example, the company’s competitive advantage with live video streaming, along with its media content partners, positions it well against a Netflix whose forte is streaming movies. The same is true of Amazon over the Roku Video Player.

MobiTV has also resolved the DRM (Digital Rights Management) issue with its premium media content partners.

Podcast Interview

For further insights into MobiTV and the future of live video streaming services, listen to the podcast. Jay is a guy who understands the market better than anyone I know. His perspective on what’s happening in mobile and video will enlighten you.

Company Overview

MobiTV, Inc. operates as a provider and platform of content delivery through mobile and broadband networks. It develops and offers technology solutions for content ingestion, encoding, and optimized delivery of live television, premium and primetime programming, clip-linear, video-on-demand, satellite, and digital music channels from broadcast and cable television networks, and music labels.

The company also offers Delivery Server, which delivers multimedia data through broadband and wireless networks, as well as enables new advertising insertion solutions, including in-stream insertion for live and clip linear content, and post and pre-roll ad placements for VOD and downloaded content.

It provides products for mobile phones, palm devices, PCs, and windows mobile devices. The company serves wireless network operators, broadband providers, handset manufacturers, and content providers. MobiTV, Inc. was formerly known as Idetic, Inc. Visionaries founded the company in 1999 and established headquarters in Emeryville, California.

Jay Hinman (no longer with MobiTV)

Jay, now with Neumob, a mobile application optimization service, is a marketing professional with over 20 years of marketing leadership in wireless and technology. He led the marketing and creative functions at MobiTV, with responsibility for marketing relationships with large wireless carriers, content & OEM partners such as AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, Apple, RIM, The Walt Disney Co. and NBC Universal, as well as managed the marketing of MobiTV’s next generation of products. Jay is a frequent speaker at industry events and is always looking for opportunities to interact & connect with other marketing pros in wireless and technology.