Ooyala tracks the mobile-video industry and produced some great news in its latest edition of the Video Index report. Tracking smartphones, tablets and connected TVs, and comparing it to the previous ’Q4, video plays doubled in the 4th quarter of 2011. This is one of the largest jumps since the company began tracking.
The study covered a wide scope — looking at more than 150 million unique users in more than 100 countries. It also tracked more than 1000 different domains for several hundred publishers, covering thousands of different types of mobile devices. This ramped up to the second straight quarter in which mobile use increased by more than 100 percent.
One of the most telling signs of the dramatic increase is that the length of programming watched continues to rise. Years ago, most people would watch a minute or two, maybe even three, before switching to something else. Ooyala now states that the average viewed stream is well over 10 minutes, a huge amount and a good sign that shows not only are more people watching for longer, but also that mobile TV is in a definite upswing. In the 3rd quarter to 4th quarter of last year, online video views grew 5 percent to 8 percent over all regions of the world tracked. The United States was right in the middle with around 6 percent according to the study.
Most happy about this is advertisers. The tracking showed that online served ads now have dramatically higher returns because of more precise targeting. As mobile TV grows and more content producers reach a wider audience, advertising increases and success stories are increasing right along with it.
