ALTHOUGH MANY MOBILE VIDEO products have only recently launched, providers report significant growth in usage rates. According to recent survey results from In-Stat, growth in mobile video consumption worldwide is poised to take off, and will surpass 693 billion minutes by 2015.
According to the report Mobile Video on Tablets and Smartphones: IP Delivery Creates a New Battleground for Pay-TV Providers, nearly two-thirds of smart phone owners have watched video on their device, while nearly 86% of tablet owners have done so. While the propensity to watch full length premium video is only a portion of these viewers, these numbers hint at the potential market demand.
“As content restrictions are liberalized and the proliferation of smart phone and tablet devices continues to expand, so too will mobile video consumption,” said market analyst Amy Cravens, in the report’s news release. “However, it is important to note that the consumption differs significantly between smart phones, tablets, and notebook/netbooks. The differences include content length, content genre, and content acquisition. Content providers need to customize their offerings by target platform.”
Other findings include:
– There are currently significantly more smart phone viewers than tablet viewers, however, the gap will narrow in coming years;
– Tablet viewer watch more video and are willing to pay a higher price for that video compared to smart phone viewers;
– The majority of video access is occurring in a non-mobile environment, often in the home, particularly for tablet devices and in the consumption of long-form video; and
– The largest barriers to mobile video growth are those erected by content owners, followed by network capacity issues.
