AMSTERDAM – At the recent Super Mobility Conference in Las Vegas, ESPN and Hulu said their mobile video audience was expanding rapidly, and said having mobile video was a critical component of their business strategy.
With good reason; both have seen huge growth in the popularity of their programming on mobile platforms.
And, they’re not alone. Ooyala released its Q2 2014 Global Video Index that shows mobile made up more than 25% of all online viewing in the second quarter, an accelerating trend that accounted for 27% of online viewing in June. Over the past two years, mobile views have increased more than 400%.
That growth isn’t expected to slow.
Cisco recently forecast that video traffic could make up 69% of all mobile video traffic by 2018; Ooyala predicts mobile to make up 50% of all online viewing by 2016.
It’s not just short-form content that’s popular with mobile users, long form, premium and live mobile video views all increased.
While mobile devices see plenty of snacking — viewers spent 45% of their time watching videos of six minutes or less in length – tablet viewers spent 23% of their time watching video of 30-60 minutes in length, more than on any other device.
At IBC this week, mobile has been center stage for a number of vendors, broadcasters and operators.
Increasingly, user interface and branding on mobile devices is being seen as a key part of the solution, a nod to the increasing amount of time being spent on devices other than traditional TV, and to the growing role operators expect those device to play.
Equally as topical at the conference has been the role that search, discovery and recommendation will play, not only across devices, but across premium and OTT service as well. More vendors are offering electronic programing guides that include not only pay-TV listings, but listings and recommendations from SVOD, TVOD and AVOD, along with other OTT services.
Ooyala’s Quarterly Index also found viewers use connected TVs for a big piece of their entertainment, saying viewers of connected TVs spent 81% of their time watching videos longer than 10 minutes.
Ooyala also said viewers spent 65% of their time watching videos 30 minutes or longer on connected TVs, and 54% of that time watching content longer than 60 minutes.
View the Ooyala Q2 report here.
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