Tablet viewers spent more than three-quarters of their time (77 percent) watching videos of at least 10 minutes in length, and while the majority of plays on tablets were short-form videos, viewers clocked 48 percent of their overall viewing time watching videos of 30 minutes or more, according to a report from video technology specialist Ooyala.
Overall, mobile and tablet viewing represented more than 21 percent of all online video plays in the first quarter of 2014, up from 3.4 percent in the first quarter of 2012 and more than 9 percent in the first quarter of 2013.
The results strongly indicated that with a year-over-year increase of 532 percent since 2012, mobile and tablet video consumption is fast becoming mandatory for any company in the video business.
“The statistics in our Global Video Index continue to affirm our belief that mobile is, in large part, the future of video and TV consumption. We see the acceleration of mobile video consumption happening globally, as consumers in every region adopt mobile and tablet video faster, and interact with it longer,” Jay Fulcher, CEO of Ooyala, said in a statement. “These insights validate the tremendous opportunity for broadcasters and publishers to tap into additional multiscreen revenue streams, grow and maintain loyal audiences across all devices, and build a fundamentally better video business.”
The company’s Global Video Index report measures the anonymous viewing habits of nearly 150 million viewers in 239 countries, and data comparing mobile video consumption across geographies shows that the Asia-Pacific region is overwhelmingly Apple-centric, with 82 percent of video views occurring on iOS devices.
The report shows that this trend in mobile video growth is even greater outside of the United States. Ooyala’s data shows that mobile plays in Europe and Latin America outpaced mobile plays in North America, as a percentage of all online video plays.
On a platform basis, Android also earned higher views over iOS in Latin America, representing 53 percent of smartphone plays.
However, in North America, iOS-based phones dominate video viewing with a 60 percent share. In Europe, viewers prefer iOS just slightly, with 55 percent compared to 45 percent for Android.
Other countries where Android won out over iOS include Malaysia (64 percent), India (79 percent), and Pakistan (81 percent), as well as Spain and France, where Android took 69 percent and 59 percent of the overall mobile views during the quarter.
According to a recent report from IT research firm IDC, worldwide Android device shipments reached 226 million units in the fourth quarter of 2013, compared to 51 million iOS units.
“With Android’s growing footprint, and better tools for supporting video playback across the Android ecosystem, Android is gaining momentum as a video device,” the Ooyala report noted.