Viewing of video on mobile devices is poised to surpass desktop viewing as early as 4Q 2016, according to the inaugural “Adobe Video Benchmark Report.” As a result, “mobile video advertising could be a big opportunity in the near future, as consumer eyeballs flock to smartphones for video viewing,” Adobe highlights.
Smartphones’ share of video views increased 75 percent year-over-year in 2014 to reach 14 percent while tablets’ share rose 50 percent, to 12 percent overall. “This growth can be attributed to changes across the board from increased access to new mobile devices, to improved mobile connectivity ad networks, to the sharp rise in mobile-friendly content,” Adobe’s report shows.
According to the Adobe Digital Index, the popularity of larger-screen smartphones such as the iPhone 6 and 6+ boosted mobile video completion rates. Mobile video viewers using larger screen smartphones are spending more time viewing online video. “This, too, is a big win for mobile video advertisers; it means more of their video ads will be seen,” ADI points out.
Mobile Video Viewing Forecast
ADI found that the amount of time smartphone users are spending watching online video each month rose 24 percent on a quarterly basis in 4Q. That said, tablet viewers are spending twice as much time viewing online content and desktop viewers 14-times more, ADI adds.
“There’s no doubt that mobile devices are becoming a better environment for digital advertising,” ADI Prinicpal Analyst Tamara Gaffney was quoted as saying. “We already see that mobile cost-per-click rates are up as a result of the bigger-screen phones.
“These devices have a lot of benefits for mobile advertising from a pure real-estate perspective. We’re now seeing the same thing in video. People are watching more video via their devices, and the larger form factor is even driving them to watch videos all the way through.”
TV Everywhere on the Rise
ADI also found that adoption of TV Everywhere – authenticated video that a customer has to sign into with an account – is on the rise. TV Everywhere numbers for 2014 were impressive, according to ADI. “On average, 13 million viewers tuned in to TV Everywhere services in 2014, up 116 percent 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 adds. “After all, TV Everywhere authenticated videos are up 467% since January 2013. And 13.9 million, or 12.5% of pay TV subscribers, actively viewed TV Everywhere content in Q4 2014, up 184% since Q1 2013.
ADI predicts active TV Everywhere viewership will reach 17.5 percent by year-end, excluding major sporting events. “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),” Director of Product Marketing for Adobe Primetime Campbell Foster elaborated.
“In 2014, viewers authenticated in big numbers for the major sporting events. In 2015 and beyond, we anticipate that viewers will continue logging in to access more episodic TV programming and film content.” This presents a broad range of monetization opportunities for broadcasters, cable networks, and content providers.”
Device Preferences
Turning again to devices, ADI found that gaming consoles’ and OTT-devices’ share of video viewing rose 50 percent YoY and 19 percent quarterly. “The iPad,” ADI adds, “is the most popular device for streaming TV Everywhere content, with 29 percent share of authenticated videos in Q4 2014.” Roku is viewers’ most popular OTT device.
Collectively, ADI expects Chromecast, Roku, Apple TV and gaming consoles will push gaming console and OTT devices’ TV Everywhere share over 20 percent this year.
Drilling down, ADI found that sports content reaches three times as many unique visitors as movie content does.
“Although sports content is a major driver of TV Everywhere viewing, we are seeing other genres help further the growth of the space” ADI analyst Matthew Roberts said. “In fact, the data shows that new viewers are increasingly turning to TV Everywhere to stream movies, with unique visitor growth up 216%.”
“In 2014, TV Everywhere was picked up by the early adopters, but in 2015 it could cross the chasm to the early majority stage,” Roberts continued. “Movies, broadcast and cable content, and sports content are all helping broaden the base of this technology, and this trend is actually really picking up. This presents a great opportunity for advertisers to reach a group of like-minded individuals and take advantage of a not-yet-cluttered market that is seeing an acceleration in growth.”
