Mobile Video Getting Hot In India

Mobile internet TV is one of the biggest growth areas in India. A recent survey conducted by Google in partnership with IPSOS and the MMA (Mobile Marketing Association) found that a third of Indian smartphone users watch TV on their smartphone.

TV household penetration in India has hit 65% and is as much as 88% in urban regions. This shows tremendous opportunities for live over-the-top (OTT) content and mobile internet TV for those households that currently have no existing terrestrial infrastructure, cable or satellite services. The operators know this and realize the potential of the market, so why haven’t more of them rolled out mobile video services?

Their reluctance stems from an understandable concern about major investments into hardware and infrastructure, and fears about the length of time it will take to recoup the money they think is needed to launch an OTT service. On top of this, many operators are busy rolling out 3G and LTE infrastructure and are worried about finding the resources to also deploy a video streaming service. They also question their ability to recoup the incremental costs of offering OTT at good enough quality to paid service in a prepay market.

However, rolling out new services shouldn’t always mean spending big on new infrastructure and back office systems or gambling on securing high numbers of initial users. Solutions exist today for operators and broadcasters to leave the hosting to a third party, allowing them to offset the risk of investment and then scale the service as required. By playing it safe and overlooking the very real business case, operators potentially risk losing out on a very lucrative revenue stream – one that other dynamic companies are now starting to benefit from.

With many operators yet to offer their own solutions, companies such as NyooTV, BIGFlix and Eros Now are seizing the opportunity and storming ahead with their paid-for streaming services. The success of these services shows that there’s a solid business opportunity there. The fact that India is one of the biggest consumers of set-top boxes (STBs) shows that consumers are happy to put their hands in their pockets.

However operators need to stop wasting money on multi-million STB rollouts and focus on mobile apps and content. Operators need to consider new media software-based solutions that will provide a better and quicker ROI, and give consumers what they want.

Vidiator recently commissioned an independent survey of Indian consumers to find out what people want from mobile video and if they’d ever pay for it. Of those surveyed, 88% said they would consider paying for mobile video now or in the future, with as many 54% saying they had already paid to access content.

People are genuinely willing to pay them for video content if the service is up to scratch. The one key caveat is that people will only pay for video that’s good quality and that’s delivered quickly. Put simply, a lot of the content on the market today isn’t good enough or at least not for many people to pay for. 

Some of the more common problems include buffering and poor quality images. However, the biggest issue saw over 68% of people surveyed dissatisfied with the time it takes video to load. This isn’t an easy fix, but solutions do exist to deliver video more intelligently.

Operators are naturally wary of major investments into new services, but high-quality video streaming services don’t require new infrastructure and can be delivered efficiently. A PwC study commissioned by Vidiator forecasts that by 2015, there will be 176 million OTT viewers in India generating revenues of $552 million. Operators should not miss out on India’s big mobile video business opportunity.