STOCKHOLM – This year will mark the first time consumers will watch more streamed or on-demand video than broadcast TV over a weekly period, according to an interim edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report. The study, issued by Ericsson ConsumerLab, also indicates that total mobile video traffic over the next six years will be nearly 17 times that of the last six years and that two-thirds of app data traffic currently comes from a country’s top five apps.
Ericsson studied nine key markets around the world to determine this shift in consumer viewing behavior. Among the reasons cited is the advent of 4G technology, the growth in smartphone and tablet use, and the shift in consumer behavior toward on-demand services that offer cross-platform access to content.
The growth in total mobile video traffic is connected to the growth in smartphone subscriptions. LTE-based carriers worldwide reached their highest quarterly additions with 110 million new subscribers, and 800 million smartphones in 2014, bumping the total to 2.7 billion, up 40 percent from 2013. Ericsson based its 17-fold increase in worldwide mobile video traffic on the increase of video-enabled devices, larger screens and better picture quality.
The report also revealed that two-thirds of all app data traffic in the nine studied countries was generated by the top five apps. Video streaming apps—including YouTube and Netflix—and social networking were the most popular in each country, with Facebook ranked number one worldwide.
Two full editions of the Ericsson Mobility Report are published twice a year. This interim report was created ahead of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which runs March 2 – 5.
All Ericsson Mobility Report findings can be found at www.ericsson.com/ericsson-mobility-report.
