Sprint customers made it clear that they are huge fans of soccer and the ability to watch it on-the-go on their Sprint phones -“ out of the more than one million unique users that tuned into Sprint TV-˜s ESPN Mobile TV channel during the month of the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament, close to 700,000 were watching World Cup matches. Viewers watched more than 87 million minutes.
Soccer fans were able to tune into a total of 56 live World Cup matches as the action happened, right on their Sprint phones.
The most viewed matches on Sprint TV’s ESPN Mobile TV channel, in order, were USA vs. Ghana (June 26), USA vs. Algeria (June 23) and the final match -“ Netherlands vs. Spain (July 11).
Prior to the World Cup, the most-watched live event on Sprint TV was the Dallas Cowboys vs. New Orleans Saints NFL game in December 2009, followed by events like the Michael Jackson Memorial, the 2008 U.S. presidential inauguration and the 2010 NBA Playoffs.
The World Cup is one of more than 800 live events this year -“ including MLB, NBA, Grand Slam tennis and college football -“ that are available through ESPN Mobile TV on the majority of Sprint’s current phone lineup, including HTC EVO 4G, HTC Hero with Google, Samsung Moment with Google, Samsung Instinct, Blackberry Bold and many feature phones. ESPN Mobile TV is part of the Sprint TV package, which is included with Sprint Everything Data plans at no additional charge. With Sprint TV, customers get access to everything from news, weather and sports to children’s programs and comedy, including Disney Channel and ABC.
According to data provided to ESPN from Knowledge Networks, out-of-home viewing and usage of non-TV platforms, such as mobile phones, added 46 percent to ESPN’s daily World Cup TV average audience. Out-of-home TV viewing lifted ESPN’s TV ratings by 14 percent, and use of non-TV platforms added another 32 percent.
“This impressive number of World Cup viewers shows that mobile TV is catching on, as people realize they can still watch popular sporting events, breaking news and their favorite TV shows while they’re away from their TV or computer,” said Len Barlik, Sprint vice president of wireless and wireline services. “Month over month Sprint TV usage keeps growing. As the leader in 4G, Sprint offers its customers coverage and speed that make the mobile video viewing experience better than any other carrier, as well as devices like HTC EVO 4G, which features a large screen that lends itself to watching video.”
According to ABI Research, the number of mobile TV users will grow at a 49 percent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) from 178.4 million in 2010 to a cumulative 1.3 billion users in 2015. In the ABI Research report, -˜Mobile TV Services,’ 2Q 2010, Mark Beccue, Analyst Consumer Mobility, states, “As 4G mobile cellular networks are launched throughout the forecast period, mobile cellular TV services will continue to be enhanced and represent a significant service segment of the mobile TV service market.”
