The millennial generation is driving the action in digital video, according to Ooyala’s Q4 report.
The report found that nearly half (46 per cent) of all video plays in Q4 were on tablets and smartphones.
It also reported that tablet and smartphone plays grew 35 per cent in the past year and 170 per cent since 2013.
“Millennials are a distinctly global generation, sharing more similarities than generations before them, and they’re driving us to a digital homogeneity that is distinctly mobile,” said Jim O’Neill, principal analyst and Videomind editor.
“Mobile slowly but steadily is becoming the dominant form of video consumption.
“As in the rest of the world (ROW), mobile video in APAC makes up nearly 50 per cent of all video plays. As in other regions, mobile devices are popular for consuming all kinds of video content, both long and short. And smartphones are the most dominant device.”
Ooyala also reported that tablets made up 14 per cent of mobile plays, up from 12 per cent from Q3. This is only the second time tablet video plays have been on the rise since 2013.
For the second quarter in a row, 69 per cent of all videos watched on smartphones were under ten minutes long.
Since 2011, mobile video plays (smartphones and tablets combined) have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 116 per cent, taking the share of mobile video plays up 2,084 per cent over the past five years.
Commenting on video piracy, O’Neill added, “Why bother? Millennials who grew up in the Wild West of early streaming have begun to discover that it’s a lot easier to pay a fair price for content from a reliable source.
“Video piracy in Australia, a hotbed of illegal downloading, dropped 29 per cent six months after Netflix launched.
“Content owners, meanwhile, have begun to discover that making content available at a reasonable cost also has other benefits: you create a revenue line where you had none before and, if your content is good enough, you create a reliable, sticky fan base. Not a bad trade.”
The report additionally found that:
– The biggest screens, connected televisions, have seen their share of time grow more than 72 per cent over 12 months.
– The share of time watched on tablets dropped from 59 per cent in Q1 to 54 per cent in Q4
– Computers had a share of time watched of 38 per cent for content longer than ten minutes
– Mobile phones rang up a share of time watched of 31 per cent
– Computers’ share of time watched for up to three minutes was 43 per cent, followed by mobile phones (40 per cent), tablets (24 per cent) and CTVs (20 per cent)
