Mobile TV....Free or User Pays?

The great debate at the moment is whether premium content on mobile should be available through a user pays model or an advertising funded model where the content is free to access but as a result a user is advertised to. Same model on the Internet, same model on Free to Air TV. I think we can guess what's going to win out and which way things will go.

Proof in point comes from a Mobile Video Advertising Research Study conducted by the MMA completed in late 2006 among mobile subscribers in the US.

- Approximately 23% of mobile subscribers are positively predisposed to the idea of watching advertisement supported video on their handsets

- More than 43% of mobile video viewers and intenders - or more than 19 million consumers agree that they would watch advertisements in order to watch mobile TV/video for free.

- Nearly 20% of viewers and intenders - or more than 9 millions consumers - agree that they would watch advertisements in order to watch mobile TV/video for a reduced fee.

I'll leave you to make your own mind which is the best model. Comments welcome.