MUMBAI: A study by Growth From Knowledge (GfK) Technology has found that 70 per cent of active subscribers are tuning in to mobile TV services at least once a week.

The majority of these subscribers watch mobile TV for less than half an hour at any one time, with 38 per cent claiming their typical viewing session is more than 20 minutes.

More than half of the respondents said they signed up to mobile TV in order to have something to do during downtime. According to the study, 18 per cent said the main reason for acquiring mobile TV was to watch a programme when away from my main TV and 10 per cent said it was so they could catch a particular programme.

GfK Technology director Colin Strong said, "The findings were encouraging and demonstrated a growing market for mobile TV services. As a time-filler the proposition of mobile TV is a good one but it is a vulnerable position to have as there are plenty of other activities that can become time fillers. Tapping into the drivers for TV has much more potential for growing the market."

The study has found that news, weather, sports and music videos were the most popular forms of mobile TV attracting 65 per cent, 56 per cent and 46 per cent of users respectively.

"This is partly due to the viewer demographic which is somewhat younger and more male than the overall population, but also due to the nature of the medium which will be more appropriate for particular types of content," added Strong.

Technology consultancy Strategy Analytics predicts mobile firms will have about 50 million users of mobile TV by 2009, which it estimates will generate £3.5 billion in revenue.