Mobile TV’s Modest Numbers in Korea

By Rafat Ali - Sun 03 Aug 2008 03:22 PM PST

We have reported on this before, but some new numbers on mobile TV’s non-pickup in Korea…more specifically, the TV broadcasting using digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) format. The story says DMB—which includes the free terrestrial and premium satellite DMB—has an audience of some 13.7 million, according to latest data. That’s up from nine million in December last year. The number of DMB-enabled receivers sold here reached 13.69 million in June.

—Mobile phones accounted for 48.4 percent of all DMB subscribers.
—Car navigation systems and other DMB-enabled terminals used in vehicles accounted for 37.8 percent of DMB receivers, followed by portable media players at 9.4 percent and USB devices at 3.8 percent.—Laptop computers were the least popular DMB device, accounting for just 0.9 percent of all receivers.

Bu the overall viewership numbers remain minuscule: TNS Media, a local research firm, overall viewer rating for the day was just 1.172 percent, peaking at 3.585 percent during the commuting hours of 6 to 7 p.m. in the survey. And, even more surprising: male viewers in their 50s proved the largest audience for mobile TV rather than the convention wisdow that tech-savvy youngsters would be watching TV on the go. Viewership was also relatively high among men in their 40s and 30s, but minuscule among women and younger customers.