Streaming video delivered to cell phones could become an "electronic babysitter," helping parents keep their kids content while they travel, a report released Thursday by IDC predicts. And, the study concludes, it is an excellent example of how new wireless services evolve.

The study notes that Verizon Wireless included video clips from Sesame Street in its V CAST video service that it launched earlier this year. Scott Ellison, an IDC program director, noted in a statement that Verizon has reported higher-than-expected use of that particular bit of programming.

"I have offered my own V CAST phone and service to parents of young children at airports and on airplanes," Ellison said in a statement. "(It resulted in) a near 100 percent success rate at tears and tantrum avoidance."

This is one example of how delivering services such as video to mobile devices can help vendors such as wireless operators create new markets, Ellison said. In this case, applications aimed at kids and their parents addresses real need and is a natural offering by wireless operators and content providers, the report noted.

Such additional offerings are what will drive development of the wireless content market, the study notes.