With about 10.3 million U.S. mobile subscribers watching video on their phones during any given month in Q3 2008, up 14 percent from Q2 totals, video adoption still lags compared to other mobile media formats according to The Nielsen Company.
The media research firm tracked 11 international markets and reported that the United States leads at mobile video viewing, with about 5 percent of all subscribers screening clips, and France and Italy trailing with about 4 percent penetration. Internet video takes the lion's share of viewers, with 64 percent of mobile video users choosing video content from mobile Web services.
The picture Nielsen’s figures conjure up is a 20-something American man with a pretty good income watching 10 minutes of NBC-branded comedy video on an iPhone. Comedy video stands out for popularity — 40 percent of viewers screened comedy clips in Q3, averaging 10 minutes a session. As of Q3, 11 percent of all streaming video users had chosen the iPhone, and 4.7 million mobile video users tuned into NBC-branded entertainment in the typical month, 46 percent of the overall mobile video audience.
As of Q3 2008, the mobile video audience skews 60 percent male, while men make up just 48 percent of total mobile subscribers. Mobile video users are much more likely to be younger: 64 percent under the age of 35, compared to just 35 percent of total subscribers. African-Americans and Hispanics are disproportionately present in the mobile video audience — as of Q3, 14 percent of the mobile video audience was African-American and 24 percent Hispanic (compared to 9 and 13 percent of all subscribers, respectively).
Mobile video users are also more affluent than the average subscriber: 28 percent of video consumers boast household incomes of $100,000, compared to 22 percent of total subscribers.
To read the full report, visit www.nielsen.com/solutions/Nielsen_MobileVideo_January2009.pdf.
