Hear me, see me

Mobile TV is elbowing its way into the new media scene, and the Q2 2006 findings from San Francisco-based communications and new media consumer research provider Telephia prove it. "The growth rate of mobile TV is tremendous," says Tamara Gaffney, Telephia's director of product management. "Quarter over quarter - not year over year - there's been a 45% growth in the number of subscribers in the US. It's a small percentage of the mobile population, but it's getting to be significant."

Telephia recently surveyed 900 mobile TV users in the US, and the results are published in the 'Q2 Mobile TV Diary Report,' which compares current mobile TV users to the 'all mobile subscribers' group - a sample of roughly 300,000 Americans who own a cell.

The most surprising result to Gaffney was where users are watching mobile TV. "I thought people would use this device while commuting or traveling because why would you watch TV on a little screen at home? I was shocked - 22% of the people who answered the survey said they watch mobile television at home. Another 14% said they watch it while they're in the office." Hmm, wonder when the survey on workplace productivity will be out?

Mobile TV channels ranked by share of total audience
Channel Total audience
ABC News 40%
The Weather Channel 32%
Fox Sports 31%
ESPN 29%
Fox News 22%
NBC Mobile News 20%
Channel Total audience
Comedy Central 16%
Accuweather 15%
Discovery Kids 15%
Discovery Channel 13%
CNN 12%
E! 12%

Place and Occasion where Mobile TV normally watched
At home In the office Commuting Shopping Other
Total 22% 14% 22% 16% 26%
Male 20% 14% 17% 20% 29%
Female 19% 12% 25% 18% 26%

Demographics: Gender and Age
Age 18-24 25-36 36-55 56+
All mobile subscribers 11% 24% 39% 26%
Current mobile TV users 23% 50% 24% 3%

Source for all charts: Telephia Mobile TV Diary Report, Q2 2006