The availability of improved devices and networks combined with the prevalence of multimedia as an essential form of entertainment are all contributing to a higher level of adoption and spending on mobile video services.

In its new report, ‘Mobile Video Services: A Five-Year Global Market Forecast', Pyramid Research estimates that the global number of users paying for mobile video services directly delivered to their handsets will grow five-fold between 2008 and 2014 to surpass 534m at the end of the period. This will represent a global penetration rate of 8.5% of total mobile subscriptions, compared with the current level of 2.5%.

By 2014, mobile video services will likely generate US$16bn in revenue worldwide. In leading markets such as Italy and the US, video will account for more than 15% of non-voice mobile market revenue in 2014. The research firm sees service providers will be making money from a variety of mobile video sources including video clips, music videos, TV episodes, TV programming and movies.

The report suggests that mobile video is developing at a rapid pace around the world and that Asia-Pacific will be a crucial component of the mobile video opportunity.

Already, says Pyramid, markets such as Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea lead in terms of mobile video penetration of subscriptions, and it also expects important uptake in India in the next five years. European markets, led by the region's most advanced mobile video market, Italy, will likely also undergo major expansion.

Pyramid recognises mobile service providers offering a multiplicity of models in order to garner demand for video services with operators offering both flat rates and usage-based prices for their mobile video content.

Asia-Pacific is using models based advances across video services, while operators in North America and Western Europe are more focused on linear mobile TV services.

In developing markets, says the report, operators are experimenting with a variety of platforms and differing levels of complexity to begin establishing a basis for ongoing consumption.

Pyramid Research does caution that across the world, a series of regulatory and technological barriers are still stifling growth. It sees market players still being required to have broadcasting licenses to transmit certain types of content.