MobiTV-Powered Downloadable TV Growing Rapidly

First there was place shifting - and lo, it was good. Consumers took their TV with them wherever they happened to roam in the US, thanks to MobiTV-powered mobile TV services such as Sprint TV. Then there came time shifting – and lo, it too was good. The people were able to watch full episodes of their favorite programs for weeks after they had aired on traditional couch-based TV, thanks to MobiTV-powered services such as T-Mobile TV and AT&T U-verse Live TV. Then – there emerged “Download and Store”. And lo, it was very, very good. Now users of MobiTV-powered services could download full episodes of shows and watch them later at a time and a place of their choosing – even if that time or place did not happen to have a wireless network, such as on an airplane. The people began to respond, as people do, with actions that marked their preference for this manner of time-shifted, place-shifted, downloadable TV.

We at MobiTV have been observing for years how consumers choose to use their devices to watch mobile video. Right now, we are experiencing very strong month-over-month growth rates in the number of shows downloaded by consumers on two of our services (T-Mobile TV and AT&T U-verse Live TV) – the ones with large majorities of Android and BlackBerry smartphones that support our download-and-store feature. Month-over-month growth rates have been in the double digits since June 2011, and this past month of October, we saw a 29% gain in full-episode downloads across both services just from the month before (September). What are people downloading? You name it. Kids’ TV on Disney Channel and PBS Kids; comedies like “Parks and Recreation” and “The Office”; even hour-long dramas on ABC, CBS and USA Network. The month before, we saw a 14% gain from August to September, and a 20% gain from July to August.

The reasons for these jumps in monthly downloads are clear. People want to watch what they want to watch, where they want to watch it, and at a convenient time of their choosing. That just might be in bed at night while the family watches something else on the “main” TV; it might be while in flight; and it might even be in a moving car while someone else is driving. There are dozens of reasons for why you might download instead of stream a given show, and with MobiTV-powered services on an increasing number of devices, now you can. And lo, it is good.