Dutch computer/wireless entrepreneur Dennis Hattema has replied to my comment about his dislike of mobile television — and he both agrees and disagrees with me.
A few days ago Dennis wrote that he doesn’t like mobile TV for a variety of reasons — tiny screen, poor content, commercials, etc.
I agreed with some of his comments (I don’t always take my phone’s headphones either), but generally promoted the value of mobile TV. I also noted that perhaps “mobile TV” should be called “mobile video” because traditional television might not be the future of cellular television.
Also, I didn’t understand what Dennis meant when he said he couldn’t see text on his parents’ 13 inch TV, let alone see it on a tiny cellular phone screen. In his reply to my comments Dennis explains that as a Dutchman currently living in Sweden, many programs in English are subtitled and he can’t read subtitles on a phone.
Viewing text
Hey, Dennis, if you don’t know the language, don’t blame mobile TV!
(Actually, Dennis knows many more languages than I. I learned ancient Greek — so I could speak to people who are 3,000 years old [and don’t remember any of it], Latin — so I could speak to people 2,000 years old [and don’t remember any of that, either], and “modern” French — that would indeed be useful….if I remembered more than six minutes of my six years of classes. Dennis certainly knows Dutch [duh!] and English and probably another language or two. I barely know, uh, one language well enough not to be completely embarrassed by speaking and writing it.)
I have actually be able to read some subtitles on mobile TV, even on small cellular screens, such as when news scrolls across Fox News. However, I certainly do not recommend the experience (either trying to puzzle out the tiny scrolling text or Fox News’ right wing blather) to anyone.
Rotten programs, commercials
Dennis also disparages regular TV programs — and, by association, mobile TV — because he notes, “I find 99% of current TV programming boring.” I completely agree. In fact, I find 99 percent too low a percentage!
However, I find some programs I like — either on the Web or on mobile TV — often on-demand.
He also doesn’t like the commercials. Neither do I, especially since there are more and more commercials and crummier and crummier programs. I guess the good news is you don’t have to watch so much of the awful programs because there are more commercials!
I do think, though, as I have previously written, that many people will suffer through commercials on mobile TV if they aren’t so long as to become onerous. A ten-second commercial for a 90–second video might be acceptable; a 30–second commercial for the same 90 second is too long.
Commercials’ problems
U.S. news programs offer many news clips on the Web but, unfortunately, the commercials sometimes are too long in relation to the length of the clip. So far, mobile TV-specific commercials aren’t too long, although if you’re watching live TV you also have to watch the regular commercials.
That last point — watching regular commercials on live mobile TV programs — could be a problem. Yes, we are conditioned to watching, accepting (or at least tolerating to some extent) commercials on TV (Tivo notwithstanding).
But it’s different when you’re watching live streaming mobile TV — typically in a “mobile” (duh) environment — where having to watch two, three, four or even more minutes of commercials at a time is a pain. If you’ve got ten minutes to watch mobile TV news, will you spend (i.e., waste) 30 percent, 40 percent of that time watching commercials?
Mobile TV versus mobile video
Dennis does agree with my comment about human beings enjoying information in video format and also that the success of mobile TV is, possibly, dependent upon providing a different experience than today’s traditional TV programs. He writes, “ Not talking about mobile TV but about mobile video might create an opening for this exciting market.”
Dennis says video on the Web is typically based upon the on-demand model with fewer or no commercials and is highly targeted. For mobile TV (or whatever you want to call it) to succeed, Dennis says the format has to be different than traditional TV.
I think that makes a lot of sense, but I also think traditional TV, such as live news from CNN, MSNBC (and I’d love live BBC World News and other similar news programs for mobile TV in the U.S.) and live sporting events might be successful even with commercials.
Comments