Video consumption on mobile devices forecast to grow by 43.9% in 2015
The average amount of time day people will spend consuming online video each day will increase by 23.3% in 2015 and by a further 19.8% in 2016, according to a new study.
This growth in video consumption is being driven by the rapid rise of smartphone and tablet penetration across the globe, together with the resulting changes in consumer behaviour. Video consumption on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets is forecast to grow by 43.9% in 2015 and 34.8% in 2016, the report carried out by ZenithOptimedia in conjunction with Newcast, shows.
Meanwhile, video consumption on non-mobile devices will continue to grow, though at more moderate rates, increasing by 9.5% in 2015 and 6.5% in 2016.
ZenithOptimedia expects mobile to become the main platform for viewing online video next year. In 2012 mobile devices accounted for 22.9% of time spend watching online video worldwide. By 2014, this proportion had risen to 40.1%, and we expect it to reach 52.7% in 2016 and 58.1% in 2017.
The number of people regularly watching traditional, linear TV will peak this year, and will start to decline for the first time in 2016, the study showed. It is forecast that the number of regular linear TV viewers will rise 3.1% in 2015 but then shrink by 1.9% in 2016 and 0.9% in 2017. As reported in ZenithOptimedia’s Media Consumption Forecasts 2015 report published in June, the amount of time people spend watching linear TV has been in slow decline for several years; the company now predicts that next year the number of viewers to start to decline as well.
The number of regular linear TV viewers has been in decline in France and Russia since 2013, in the UK and the US since 2014, and is expected to start to decline in China this year. The decline of linear TV viewing is in direct correlation with the increasing quantity and quality of content available online, both from short-form platforms like YouTube and long-form platforms like Netflix. ZenithOptimedia forecasts that the number of regular online video viewers will increase by 5.8% in 2015, 5.1% in 2016 and 5.3% in 2017.
The number of regular online video viewers is increasing at double-digit rates in 12 of the markets included in this report, including in major markets like China (27.2%), France (50.0%), Germany (27.5%) and the US (12.3%).
Mark Waugh, global MD, Newcast, commented: “Consumers all around the world are rapidly embracing online video, because it offers them a near limitless array of engrossing content. Some of the keenest users are the young, affluent viewers who are hardest to reach on television.”
