Fast-Forwarding to the Future of TV Viewing

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A new study, presented at the ARF, offers a look at how Japanese consumers have responded to mobile phones that offer all of their favorite shows.

As American consumers begin watching video on their cell phones, many advertising researchers are looking abroad for clues as to what this means for the future of advertising.

“Mobile Phone with TV,” a new study on Japanese mobile phone users conducted in Tokyo from 2006–2008, offers a glimpse of how users react to devices offering robust digital TV programming not yet available in the U.S. Dentsu’s Kenso Setoguchi and Video Research’s Eichiro Tscuchida presented findings from the just-released research at the Online Media Council in New York City on August 27.

The Japanese mobile phone market is more advanced than many, offering intriguing possibilities to researchers looking ahead. Like the iPhone, Japanese mobile phones typically include a camera, 3G, GPS and a music player, Setoguchi noted. On top of this, Japanese mobile phones offer some features not included on the iPhone, such as free digital TV that provides programming from all the major broadcast networks and DVR capabilities, FM radio, a QR code reader that interprets 2D bar codes on posters and printed materials that fires off a web session, and “electrical money” that can be used to make credit card purchases directly from the phones.

The study found that the number one location for mobile TV viewing was on buses and trains, when respondents wanted to pass time. Many used time-shifting to catch up on their favorite programs, with news shows being the most popular, followed by entertainment. Using closed captioning was common, a finding that seemed to surprise some in the ARF’s audience accustomed to noisier American commuters. “When the Japanese watch TV on public transportation, they don’t want noise around them,” explained Tscuchida. “They turn off the audio.”

The largest groups of mobile-TV capable phone owners in the study were the youngest. Some 27% of 12–19-year-olds reported owning one of the devices, with 22% actively using the TV function. By comparison, only 10% of 50-59 year olds had such a phone, and only 8% watched TV on it. About 68% of the total sample said they talked and used the Internet from their phones.

Ownership of mobile TV-enabled phones did seem to affect other media consumption by respondents. Heavy users of mobile-TV enabled phones, who employed their phones more than once a day, decreased the amount of talking they did on their phones from 2002 to 2007 and increased their texting and web surfing.

The study also looked at the phone users’ other habits, offering useful points of comparison. E-mail usage among all users increased during lunch time and commuting, as did Internet surfing. Users tended to use the Internet most heavily in the evening. As they increased their usage of mobile TV-enabled phones, they also increased their web surfing but decreased their watching of at-home TV and reading of print periodicals.

Currently, digital broadcast systems in the U.S. aren’t compatible with the Japanese standard, so the markets are not really comparable at this time. Widespread mobile TV will most likely occur as streaming expands, but the findings are instructive for U.S. marketers looking for insight into the types of media consumption changes that may appear on the horizon.