There is evidence that Americans will watch TV on a small portable device, based on results from a test trial in Washington, DC.
Almost 200 people given a Dell netbook equipped with a Mobile DTV tuner collectively watched 82,000 TV episodes over a 6 month period. It’s encouraging that they did not just watch local news, as some suspected, but they indulged in full length movies plus thousands of other TV episodes, said the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC), a trade group coordinating the Mobile DTV tests.
The main use case of the technology is that someone who was watching TV walks out the door and then continues watching on a netbook.
The second piece of good news is that users watched mainly at lunch time or in the afternoon, which adds to the typical TV viewing at night, and it’s something that advertisers like to see, said the OMVC. The viewers on average watched for about 50 minutes divided into two sessions.
At CES, a section of Central Hall located near the Panasonic booth will be devoted to Mobile DTV exhibitors.
Also, just prior to CES, the OMVC–which has been a consortium of broadcasters up until now–is adding hardware suppliers to its trade group. Electronics manufacturers Dell, Harris, LG Electronics, and Samsung Mobile are now members.
Source: Open Mobile Video Coalition
Photo MDTV Dell Mini
