Recent survey data from Parks Associates indicates that 13 percent of portable device users want their gadgets to have integrated live TV functionality. Parks dubs this “small but dedicated segment” of the market “Mobile Aficionados,” and suggests it may consist of more than 40 million Internet users.

The Parks data is consistent with Berg Insight's recent estimate that 15 percent of European mobile subscribers regularly access mobile entertainment and content, and with In-Stat's finding that 11 percent of “early adopters” are “very or extremely interested” in broadcast TV capability on cell phones.

Another analyst firm, ABI Research, recently called mobile TV the next “killer application” for cellular handsets, while noting that there are a number of naysayers who insist that mobile TV is mostly hype and is destined to serve limited to niche markets, only.

Factors delaying the adoption of mobile device TV, according to ABI, include:

• People won't watch video on the go
• The screen is too small
• No one wants to watch a half-hour program on a cell phone
• The cell phone battery will run down too quickly
• Implementing mobile TV is too expensive and doesn't offer a business case for operators

Parks says “Mobile Aficionados” are driving the early market for video content and live TV services on portable and mobile platforms. Berg suggests that mobile TV won't really take off until transmission reaches broadcast quality, which it says is not likely to occur until around 2012 in Western Europe. Whereas Parks characterizes the market as “small but enthusiastic,” the earlier In-Stat finding said consumers are “showing something less than unbridled enthusiasm” toward multimedia handsets with video capabilities.

Despite the current hurdles, Berg, In-Stat, and ABI all agree that mobile TV will have a growing presence. Berg sees TV brands crossing over onto mobile through gaming, interactive TV, and branded content services. For its part, In-Stat says some forms of mobile programming clearly makes sense, citing news and weather as examples, but notes that payment options need “more flexibility.”

“The percentages of consumers interested in mobile video/TV services are smaller than those for other functions such as taking photos and listening to music,” noted Yuanzhe Cai, senior analyst at Parks Associates. “But there is a group of hardcore mobile entertainment enthusiasts who are very motivated — either they have already adopted a portable device with video playback functions or are very eager to add live TV support to their mobile devices,” he added.

The recently released Parks survey included more than 2,000 US Internet users (including teenagers), according to the company.

 
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