LONDON—Online video is going mobile, as a new report from Zenith has revealed that mobile devices are the key factor in the increase of daily online video viewing by consumers. The report predicts that the average consumer will spend 47.4 minutes a day watching online videos, an increase of 20 percent over 2016’s 39.6 minutes.
This growth, according to Zenith, can be credited to a 35 percent increase in viewing on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets to an average of 28.8 minutes a day. Fixed devices—i.e. PCs, laptops and smart TVs—will rise just 2 percent to 18.6 minutes a day. This year’s findings will reportedly be the peak for fixed devices’ online video viewing, as any growth that occurs with smart TVs will not be able to compensate for the decline in viewing on desktops and laptops, per Zenith, which expects fixed devices to shrink by 1 percent in 2018 and 2 percent in 2019. Inversely, with the spread of mobile devices, improved displays and faster mobile data connections, mobile viewing will continue to rise, with Zentih forecasting it accounting for 72 percent of all online video viewing by 2019.
Mobile is also expected to surpass fixed devices with online video advertising. As of this year, fixed video adspend is more than mobile at $15.2 billion to $12 billion. However, by next year, those numbers are expected to flip, with mobile adspend being predicted at $18 billion and fixed video staying put at $15 billion. Overall online video advertising is becoming more important, making up 28 percent of total expenditure on digital display advertising in 2017, and expected to reach 31 percent by 2019.
These findings are from the third edition of Zenith’s annual “Online Video Forecasts” report. This year’s report covered 63 markets and forecasted online video consumption and advertising with commentaries on the development of individual markets by local experts.
