FinPilot2 Final Report – User Acceptance of Mobile TV Services ...

2 Related Research
2.1 FinPilot in 2005
2.1.1 Setup of the study
The original FinPilot or the Finnish DVB-H trial was carried out in 2005 and it was
organised by the partners of Finnish Mobile TV Pilot: Digita, MTV Media, Nelonen,
YLE, Elisa, TeliaSonera and Nokia (Mäki, 2005; Internal FinPilot1 results report)
A sample of 500 test users was recruited from a random selection of operators’
customers. The sample represented both sexes (35% women) and age groups
18-70 (47% age 18-30). Nokia 7710 smart phones were used as test devices and
broadcasting covered the Helsinki metropolitan area. Pilot users paid a monthly
access fee (4,9 e) for basic services and separate fees (3,9 e for the first month,
later included in the basic fee) for additional channels and special events such as
Formula weekends. The users received phones from the mobile TV pilot project but
were using their own subscriptions.
The piloting was carried out by Research International Finland and Finnpanel during
March-June 2005. Surveys were organised before the trial, after 1-2 weeks usage
and after 3 months usage. Focus group interviews were organised in parallel to the
surveys.
2.1.2 Results
The main result was that mobile TV service was considered to have future potential,
assuming that pricing and content are in line with consumers’ expectations and
needs. Of the pilot participants surveyed, 58% thought that mobile TV will become
popular in the future. Requirements for mobile TV adoption included handset
usability and acceptance, technical performance and reliability, usability of mobile
TV service and content that suits irregular and short viewing periods.
The main usage motivations were to pass time and to stay updated. The main usage
contexts were at home alone, at work and while travelling on public transportation.
Short and easy to follow content was preferred for travelling whereas at home
mobile TV could be used as a secondary TV when the main TV was in use by others
or before going to sleep. At work mobile TV took to a great extent the role of a
radio; it was used as background entertainment.
Mobile TV usage was more spontaneous than normal TV viewing: mobile TV
was watched when time and the situation allowed. After the initial enthusiasm
TV viewing became refined to certain moments, certain channels and certain
programme formats. Of the sample surveyed, 65-70% was using mobile TV on a
weekly basis. Active users (100 users) were watching mobile TV twice a week, 30-40
min per session and “light users” (100 users) once a week, 10 minutes per session.
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