What’s New: Americans are excited about the future of 5G-enabled entertainment and are willing to pay more, but there is still much the industry needs to do to create anticipation and close the 5G knowledge gap, a new study from Intel says.

“Digital disruption is eroding the borders that once separated entertainment, media, technology and telecommunications companies. The next generation of media and entertainment growth is not just about what content companies create but how seamlessly customers can access it and the unique ways they can interact with it.” –Jonathan Wood, general manager of Business Development & Partnerships, 5G Next Generation and Standards at Intel

What the Study Says: The latest chapter of Intel’s “5G Economics of Entertainment Report” finds that Americans are ready to open their pocketbooks for the enhanced experiences that 5G will bring to media and entertainment – good news for the operators eager to understand how to monetize their 5G investments.

» Click for full infographic

However, it is not quite so cut and dried. Intel’s study shows that many people regard 5G as simply another “speed bump” and do not fully grasp the scale of change 5G has the potential to usher in.

This hypothesis was proven in a recent, but unrelated, Intel-sponsored consumer study that found 58 percent of Americans admit to not being knowledgeable or ever having heard of 5G. Recognizing the knowledge gap, Intel set out with this latest study to paint a picture of the type of new entertainment experiences 5G would enable and then asked people which they valued and their willingness to pay more.

Over half (54 percent) of Americans said they were willing to switch to 5G for all their connected home needs. And when asked to rank half a dozen future experiences 5G will enable, next-gen TV (54 percent), augmented instruction (41 percent) and immersive live events (40 percent) topped the wish list. (More: “People Are Excited about the Future 5G Enables Despite Knowledge Gap“)

When it comes to what people are willing to pay for 5G-enabled experiences, household income had no bearing, but there was a definite hunger for 5G among the younger cohort. A staggering 72 percent of Gen Zers (age 16-25) expressed their willingness to pay $20 per month more than for current 4G services. Forty percent of Americans would pay an additional $10 extra per month, and 27 percent would pay more than $20 per month.

Top drivers of enthusiasm for 5G include faster speed (64 percent), reliability (43 percent) and responsiveness (36 percent).

Why It’s Important: The 5G future will soon be here, and business models will be reinvented as companies tap into new revenue streams and attempt to create relevance with their audience at scale. In the golden era of television, having the best content in the world will cease to be enough if it gets snarled up in an inevitable communications traffic jam.

More Context: The consumer survey is part of the “5G Economics of Entertainment Report,” conducted by Ovum and sponsored by Intel, which measured the market and impact of 5G in media and entertainment. The report forecasts that over the next decade (2019-2028), media and entertainment companies will be competing to win a share of a near $3 trillion cumulative wireless revenue opportunity. Experiences enabled by 5G networks will account for nearly half of this revenue opportunity – close to $1.3 trillion.

And More Context: Visit “5G at Intel” to learn more about how Intel is helping drive the transformation of the network to modernize today’s communications infrastructure and build the foundation for 5G.

Tags: Entertainment, media, network transformation