UK and Ireland ahead of global mobile curve

Mobile video views have increased 616 per cent since Q3 2012, and now make up 45 per cent of all video views globally, according to Ooyala's latest Global Video Index report. However, the rate of growth for mobile online video views is actually slowing down; and decelerated in the third quarter. The reasons for this, the report states, are that video viewing on mobile devices has become ubiquitous, commonplace, the norm', and there remains a lack of premium content on mobile devices.

Mobile video consumption in Europe hit 53 per cent of all online video plays in the region, surpassing the global trend of 45 per cent in Q3 2015. The trend indicates particular regions are further along in the adoption of mobile phones and tablets as a primary screen for video consumption as mobile continues to grow across all markets. The UK and Ireland are far ahead of the global mobile curve, with mobile and tablet combine to make up nearly two thirds of all online video plays; compared to the worldwide average.

Growth of mobile viewing is not stopping though, and instead has simply reached a temporary point of stasis.' Viewers are still turning to mobile over other portable devices, and smartphone views made up 88 per cent of mobile video views during the quarter, compared to just 12 per cent for tablets.

When it comes to longer content, the traditional TV set is still the go-to screen for many viewers. Over the past nine months, for video over ten minutes long the share of time watched on connected TVs has increased from 43 per cent to 71 per cent. In Europe, connected TVs represented 79 per of time spent watching content longer than ten minutes, more than double the time spent with long-form video on tablets. When it comes to choosing a device to watch episodic TV, tablets, at 20 per cent, continued to dominate share of time watched for content ten to 30 minutes long.

The report also looked at video advertising trends, and found that tablets and smartphones made up nearly half of ad impressions across publishers, broadcasters and networks combined, as PCs slid to 40 per cent from 54 per cent in Q1. For broadcasters, 92 per cent of ads begun on tablets completed in the quarter, better than the completion rate for smartphones and PCs.

Each quarter, some of the highest numbers of video plays Ooyala sees involve sporting events, whether it's long-form competition or shorter clips. According to the report, in the UK and Ireland, more than 45 pre cent of sports viewing occurs on smartphones and tablets. Surprisingly, Ireland sees the most sports plays on mobile devices, at 51 per cent, and throughout the rest of Europe's largest countries, mobile sports consumption trails that engagement level slightly, coming in at 39 per cent. In Europe, the report advises, content owners broadcasters and operators should work to get more of their content in front of mobile viewers.

Leading into 2016, it's abundantly clear that video both delivery and advertising is scaling massively across all screens, said Jonathan Wilner, vice president of product and strategy for Ooyala. For premium content providers the major opportunity today is getting smarter about their video strategy. Video providers need to know to leverage timely events, tap into new advertising technology, understand how their audience is engaging with content and optimise their video business accordingly to maximise returns.

www.ooyala.com

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