BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

Top 10 Mobile TV Moments: Michael Jackson's Death, World Cup Lead

This article is more than 10 years old.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

MobiTV released an interesting list yesterday that sheds light on what kinds of live events drive people to watch television on their phones. Turns out it's really not that different from what drives humanity in general: Death, sex and soccer. Or as Mobi put it:

The result is a list of the ten most-viewed live events in MobiTV’s history, among them a major mea culpa, the biggest soccer match in four years, one wedding and a funeral:

Coverage of Michael Jackson's death and memorial took spots 1 and 4, respectively. The United States vs. Algeria 2010 World Cup Soccer match was 2. Other notables: President Obama's inauguration took a high spot, but the Sarah Palin vs. Joe Biden debate beat out Obama vs. McCain. In the marriage vs. divorce category, Tiger Woods' confessional press conference beat out last month's Royal Wedding.

A spokesperson for Mobi said the rankings didn't come with actual viewer numbers because phone companies generally don't release that information. But for some sense of scale, Mobi's CEO Charlie Nooney told me in an interview two months ago:

Last year alone MobiTV delivered more than 1.5 billion minutes of content to its base of 15 million managed subscribers, up from 9 million at the start of 2010.

That Jackson's 2009 death remains number 1, then, shows just how large of a news story that was -- and what time of day it broke. For many people in the U.S., the news arrived during work or commute-home hours. On the other hand, the debates do not fit that model -- they were held when most people are expected to be home. Maybe soccer moms and dads at games and practices drove up those Palin vs. Biden numbers.

More universally true is that information itself does not necessarily spark mobile television traffic -- something specific has to be happening. Press conferences, debates, matches dominate the list.

Longer-developing stories -- such as the Arab Spring and the financial meltdown -- didn't make the cut. There is not a singular moment in those stories. MobiTV's blog post rightly makes the correlation between its list and the where-were-you-when effect. It could be that such memories will increasingly include breaking out the smartphone and tuning in.

Here's the list in full:
Rank Event Date
1 Michael Jackson’s death June 25, 2009
2 United States vs. Algeria World Cup 2010 live soccer match June 23, 2010
3 President Obama’s inauguration Jan. 20, 2009
4 Michael Jackson’s memorial service July 7, 2009
5 Japan earthquake and tsunami April 11, 2011
6 Sarah Palin/Joe Biden vice presidential debate Oct. 2, 2008
7 Tiger Woods’s press conference April 5, 2010
8 Barack Obama/John McCain presidential debate Oct. 15, 2008
9 Dallas Cowboys/New Orleans Saints Saturday Night Football Dec. 19, 2009
10 Will & Kate’s Royal Wedding April 29, 2011