Video Going Mobile

Video on the Internet has taken off in recent years. The rapid growth of online video has been driven by widespread broadband connectivity, a growing number of sites offering commercial video content, and the explosion of user-generated video (UGV) content. While online Internet video initially caught fire among younger users, it subsequently has moved into the mainstream market.

Now video is ready to conquer the mobile arena as well. According to recent market study by Frost & Sullivan (2007), the number of mobile TV subscribers will expand rapidly to reach 180 million by 2010. And according to a research report by Berg Insight (2007), mobile media's share of total digital advertising expenditures worldwide is expected to grow substantially from less than 1% in 2007 to 7.5% in 2012.

“Mobile video” covers a wide array of value-added services cutting across multiple categories:

- One-way streaming with optional return channel for interactivity – such as mobile TV and video on demand (VOD)

- Application-to-person services – such as Web browsing, dating and chatting that includes video content and video ringback tones

- Download (non-real-time) services – such as video ringtones and video clips

In this paper, we will first examine the market drivers and competing service delivery technologies for mobile video. We will then review several leading mobile video services, and present selected video-processing extensions for mobile video delivery platforms. Finally, we will conclude by summarizing the benefits of mobile video for telecom equipment manufacturers (TEMs) and systems integrators (SIs) on the one hand, and for mobile network operators (MNOs) and value-added service providers (VASPs) on the other.