A forecast from eMarketer predicts that the population of mobile video viewers in the United States is set to grow nearly 30 percent in 2010 to reach 23.9 million. This figure represents a reach of only 7.7 percent of the total population and less than 10 percent of mobile phone users. The number of mobile video viewers — defined as people of any age who watch video content on mobile phones through mobile browser, subscriptions, downloads or applications at least once per month — will continue growing in the double digits for a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.8 percent from 2009 through 2014.
Senior analyst Noah Elkin noted that “video is in many ways the most fragmented of the three primary mobile content categories,” because mobile video can be consumed through many channels, including paid and free applications, mobile websites, pay-per-view downloads and subscriptions through mobile carriers.
The mobile video audience will expand due to improvement in the viewing experience, increased mobile broadband availability and more viewing options outside the carrier networks. EMarketer also predicts that mobile video revenues, including direct downloads, subscriptions and ad-supported video, will “roughly triple between 2009 and 2014,” from $436 million to $1.34 billion. Ad-supported content will be the fastest growing, with a 60 percent CAGR between 2009 and 2014.
