Open Mobile Video Coalition to Analyze Consumer Mobile Digital Television Viewership Patterns

The Open Mobile Video Coalition, a broadcast industry organization dedicated to accelerating over-the-air Mobile Digital Television, announced industry partnerships with Harris Interactive and Rentrak Corporation to study consumer usage patterns during OMVC’s Mobile DTV Consumer Showcase in Washington, D.C.

 

According to OMVC, more than 30 television stations are now transmitting Mobile DTV signals throughout the country. The organization expects that the number of local broadcasters upgrading to enable the newly-minted Mobile DTV standard will mushroom throughout 2010.

 

Earlier, OMVC announced that Mobile DTV Consumer Showcase begins in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area in the first quarter of 2010, with eight local area television stations transmitting up to 20 channels of free and broadcast TV programming to hundreds of mobile devices that will be used by actual viewers and local residents.

 

Washington, D.C.-area viewers will try Mobile DTV with a range of devices, including netbook computers, cell phones, accessory WiFi (News - Alert) receivers, and portable DVD players that have been specially equipped with the new Mobile DTV receiving circuitry, said OMVC.

 

Mobile DTV has the built-in ability to measure viewer activity, giving broadcasters a much better picture of what consumers are actually watching, when they watch, and where.

 

Harris Interactive, a global market research firm, and Rentrak (News - Alert), a provider of multi-screen media measurement serving the entertainment and advertising industries, will measure viewer activity with devices that have a return channel, said Brandon Burgess, OMVC president and ION Media Networks chairman and CEO.

 

OMVC, Harris Interactive (News - Alert) and Rentrak will utilize Harris’s Early Adopter Community and Rentrak’s Mobile Essentials service during the spring and summer to measure and perform a detailed analysis of consumer viewing trend patterns. Harris’s EAC is a Web-based research tool that will survey testers regarding their attitudes and opinions about Mobile DTV viewing.

 

Key metrics that will be studied by team during the project include determining the most active day parts, how long viewers remain engaged, and what genres of content are most compelling and frequently viewed, according to OMVC officials.

“We anticipate that this window into consumer behavior will help us deliver more relevant information and entertainment to viewers who are on-the-go,”  Burgess added.

 

Mobile DTV applications to be tested, under a recently approved technical standard, include favorite live, local television programs just as they are transmitted to D.C.-area homes, interactive broadcasts made possible by the new Mobile DTV standard, and lifesaving emergency alerts for weather incidents and other unforeseen events, OMVC officials said.

 

At Washington, D.C. Consumer Showcase, OMVC is planning to evaluate quantitative and qualitative usage for each of the selected device platforms. The event will help them understand factors that may motivate greater usage of Mobile DTV, early adoption, propensity to tolerate pay services, interactive services and usage patterns.