Giselle Abramovich is senior & strategic editor at CMO.com
Adobe Digital Index (ADI) recently released its inaugural “U.S. Digital Video Benchmark Report”, which predicts that online video viewing on mobile devices is set to dominate desktop viewing by Q4 2016, according to the data. The implication for marketers is that mobile video advertising could be a big opportunity in the near future, as consumer eyeballs increasingly flock to smartphones for video viewing.
ADI found that mobile viewing has steadily continued to increase its share of video views, with smartphone share up 75% year-over-year (YoY) in 2014, to 14%, and tablet share up 50% YoY, to 12%. This growth can be attributed to changes including increased access to new mobile devices, improved mobile connectivity and networks, and the sharp rise in mobile-friendly content, per ADI.
Larger-screen devices are increasing overall time spent viewing online video. This, too, is a big win for mobile video advertisers; it means more of their video ads will be seen. Smartphone viewers are spending 24% more time per month, quarter-over-quarter (QoQ). However, as ADI found, the total time spent viewing video content on a tablet is still twice as long as time spent on a smartphone, while desktop time spent is 14 times longer.
TV Everywhere
TV Everywhere—another form of online video analyzed by ADI for its report—is also seeing an increase in adoption. TV Everywhere is authenticated video that a customer has to sign into with an account, such as HBO Go. According to ADI, 2014 produced some impressive TV Everywhere numbers, with 2.1 billion authenticated videos viewed, up 266% YoY. On average, 13 million viewers tuned in to TV Everywhere services in 2014, up 116% from 6 million in 2013.
According to ADI, TV Everywhere is also an opportunity for marketers to get their message out to consumers in an uncluttered advertising environment.
ADI predicts TV Everywhere active viewership will reach 17.5% by the end of 2015, and that’s without major sporting events. Campbell Foster, director of product marketing for Adobe Primetime, commented, “The growth in TV Everywhere will be driven by broader adoption of auto-authentication, social logins, and proactive marketing campaigns by multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs). In 2014, viewers accessed TV Everywhere content in big numbers to tune into major sporting events, [including the Sochi Winter Olympics and World Cup]. For 2015 and beyond, we anticipate that viewers will continue logging in to access more episodic TV programming and film content.”
The continual rise in mobile video viewing and TV Everywhere content consumption across devices presents a broad range of opportunities for broadcasters, cable networks, and content providers.
This article originally appeared on Adobe’s CMO.com
