63% of Viewers Watch Mobile Video At Home

The word mobile connotes “on the go.”  It is hard to go anywhere today and not see someone holding a mobile device, interacting with it in public.

As people access content everywhere and anywhere, some content is primarily consumed in the home.  According to the 7^th annual “Emerging Video Services” survey published by Leichtman Research Group, 63 percent of adults said they watch video on their mobile phone.  Tablet users are even more apt to view video at home – 89 percent watch on their iPad, tablet or eReader.

Mobile devices are ubiquitous and a second-screen experience.  Over the past 18 months, marketing industry publications increasingly referenced how viewers interact with video content, especially during primetime television and major events (such as the Super Bowl or the Oscars/Academy Awards).  At the end of 2012, mobile video reached 41 million people and 41 percent of viewers watched mobile video in January 2013.  According to Gfk, Millennials (born between 1977-1994) spend 23 percent of their video viewing time watching content on tablets, while Gen Xers (born between 1965-1976) spend 16 percent.  In total, viewers watch 3.5 percent of all video content on a tablet, with 4.5 percent of total video content viewed on a smartphone.

Consumers watch mobile video content more at home because they use Wi-Fi to connect to the web, which does not affect their smart phone data plan consumption and ultimately saves them money.  Frequent access to data heavy video content on Hulu, YouTube, and ESPN, for example, is a data drain and often causes mobile users to exceed their smart device carrier’s monthly, data caps.  High-traffic multi media sites are concerned that data caps may impede the consumption of on-the-go content.  And as multi-media companies continue to integrate video content as a way to engage viewers and increase online video advertising dollars, their concerns are well founded.  The Wall Street Journal reported that ESPN is exploring data-cost sharing partnership with wireless carriers as a way to minimize customers exceeding data caps and to encourage them to continue to access content without the fear of exceeding their monthly data plan.  The benefit to ESPN would be increased viewer access and potentially higher advertising revenues associated with this increased viewership.  The financial benefits to all parties and the FCC regulatory hurdles have yet to be fully analyzed and vetted, but the concept is engaging all sides of the issue.

The importance of the above is that web video marketers and video marketing companies must be cognizant of viewer habits and tailor their video marketing solutions accordingly.  Consumers will still interact with short-form video communication and content outside the home, but they may not if video email, video postcards, and general video communications is not succinct and to the points, i.e. the video is not too much of drain on the client’s wireless data plan.

Regardless of the above, people are using mobile devices like never before to view content and video. According to Forrester’s “2013 Mobile Trends for Marketers” the mobile marketplace in 2013 already includes

• 1 million apps
• 150 million tablets
• 1 billion smartphones

With mobile’s scale and reach established, Forrester notes that immediacy and ubiquity are the two forces that drive the mobile arena.  This means that marketers must make mobile a strategic priority as part of their outreach and communication marketing, and using video communications is an essential part of that strategy.

The Center for Industry Research said the sale of smartphones and tablets will exceed the number of desktop computers sold.  Additionally, Kleiner Perkins Caulield & Byers predicts that there will be more than 2 billion smartphones and 3 billion tablets in use by 2015.

For 2013, video communications and video emails that cannot be watched effectively on smartphones or tablets represent a missed opportunity.  And, FLIMP Media ensures that video content is device agnostic so all video communications are watched on any mobile device or desktop environment.

Recognizing the important role of mobile devices in marketing communications, the Flimp media team is finalizing our next generation platform to accommodate all forms of video communication dissemination via video email, video postcards, video landing pages, social media, and across all mobile devices.  In the weeks ahead we’ll be sharing the features of our next generation video platform.

Stay tuned!

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Jenn O’Meara is the Director of Client Services at Flimp Media.  With a diverse digital marketing communications background, Jenn enjoys working directly with Flimp Media’s clients.  A graduate of Providence College and Boston University, Jenn can be found rink side most winter weekends cheering on the PC Friars Hockey teams.  In the summer, look for Jenn at the beach.