Mobile video increasingly popular
The world is watching—there’s no doubt about it. Video content captivates consumers. Contrary to earlier expectations, mobile video consumption is also gaining importance—and significantly so.
Consumers not only watch short clips on their mobile devices, but also like to watch longer clips, especially when it comes to live content. These are the findings of the latest Global Video Index from video technology provider Ooyala, which analyzed usage data from around 200 million video consumers worldwide. The analyses show that 17% of all online videos are already being watched on smartphones or tablets. The proportion of videos viewed via tablet grew by 6% last year, while the proportion viewed on smartphones even increased by around 60% in the same period. This development was boosted in particular by more powerful networks, smarter mobile devices and optimized mobile video applications. Consumers are increasingly appreciating the possibilities of simple mobile video consumption. This is reflected not only in the fact that an ever-increasing proportion of online videos are being viewed on mobile devices, but also in the higher proportion of time spent watching them. According to the study, smartphones and tablets already accounted for 26% of total online video usage time at the end of 2013. Within just over a year, the mobile video share of online video usage time has almost tripled. In the last quarter of 2013 alone, the mobile video share increased by 43%. The study assumes that the trend towards mobile video will continue: The analysts expect that half of all online video usage will take place on mobile devices by the end of 2016.
So which content is preferred on mobile devices? The evaluations make it clear that it is by no means just about short clips. As expected, longer online videos account for the majority of viewing time on the larger screens - smart TV and PC: 80% and 61% of viewing time is spent on videos longer than 10 minutes. However, the majority of video consumption on smartphones (76%) and tablets (59%) is also accounted for by videos longer than 10 minutes. Consumers do not even shy away from videos that are longer than half an hour: 35% of viewing time on tablets and as much as 53% of viewing time on smartphones is accounted for by videos 30+ minutes in length - this is less than on smart TV (62%), but still more than on PCs (34%). The evaluations also show that live videos have significantly longer average usage times than canned content. This is particularly true for online videos on smart TV and PC. The average duration of a live stream on smart TV is 42.8 minutes, whereas an on-demand video only runs for 5.1 minutes on average. On the PC, this ratio is 34.5 to 2.6 minutes. These differences are not quite as great for mobile devices, but tend to be identical. Live streams on tablets last 7.1 minutes on average - almost twice as long as on-demand content (4.1 minutes). On smartphones, the ratio is 3.5 to 2.8 minutes. Last but not least, the study shows: "Mobile is a Sports Lifeline." Consumers appreciate being able to watch sports programs flexibly and on the go using mobile devices. Interestingly, the tablet tends to be used for shorter "sports snacks": 60% of viewing time is spent on sports programs with a length of 1 to 6 minutes. Smartphones, on the other hand, are also used for more detailed sports coverage, such as summaries of football matches: 62% of viewing time on smartphones is accounted for by sports programs longer than 10 minutes.
Clemens Koob
Key Facts
- Already 17 percent of all online videos are watched on a smartphone or tablet.
- Mobile devices account for 26% of online video usage time. The share of mobile video has increased by 190% compared to the previous year.
- By the end of 2016, mobile video will account for half of all online video usage time.
- A large proportion of mobile viewing time is spent on videos that are 30+ minutes long (smartphone 53%; tablet 35%).
- On average, live streams are watched for longer than on-demand clips: on tablets, the figures are 7.1 to 4.1 minutes, on smartphones 3.5 to 2.8 minutes.
- Sports: Tablets are used for snacks (60% of viewing time for sports reports of 1-6 minutes in length), smartphones for more detailed reports (62% of viewing time for reports of 10+ minutes in length).
