The predictions were made by media measurement company Zenith in its latest Online Video Forecasts report. The company found that people now spend an average of 28.8 minutes every day watching video on a smartphone or tablet. By comparison, viewers using a “fixed” format, such as a desktop PC or smart TV, watch for just 18.6 minutes per day.
As video content on mobile devices takes off, Zenith expects marketers to concentrate their campaigns on the platform. Consequently, the already stagnating fixed video ad market will decline into 2018 as marketing departments spend their budgets on mobile products.
Zenith said ad spending will be “mobile first” and will significantly overtake the revenue made from desktop ads. Mobile videos will earn $18 billion in ad expenditure compared with $15 billion for their desktop counterparts. This represents a 49 percent year-on-year increase for mobile, up from $12 billion in 2017, and a 1.5 percent decrease for desktop from its current $15.2 billion value.
Commenting on the findings, Zenith suggested that traditional desktop-based video sharing sites will lose viewers to new mobile-first social alternatives. Facebook has made it no secret that it intends to evolve its platform into a video-dominated YouTube rival. As videos and Facebook Live begin to surge in popularity in its app, it’s expected to make significant inroads on this aim over the next year.
“Online video is one of the fastest-growing channels of advertising, triggering heavy demand from brands for high-quality content,” said Jonathan Barnard, Head of Forecasting and Director of Global Intelligence at Zenith. “Video platforms that can capture the attention of the most consumers with the best content will reap the highest rewards.”
Zenith also noted that improvements to hardware and Internet connections will help facilitate the shift to mobile as the preferred platform for video consumption.
Besides the increasing role of social networks in how video is accessed, the faster mobile connections offered by 4G and soon 5G networks are making viewing more viable while on the go. Combined with marked improvements in display quality over the past few years, consumers who previously watched videos at home may now choose to use their phone while commuting.
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Looking ahead to the end of the decade, mobile devices are expected to categorically dominate video consumption. 72 percent of all content will be viewed on a phone or tablet by 2019, up from 61 percent today.
As social networks come to embrace the video age, smartphone makers will take note and design their devices around this role. The net effect will be a pronounced shift towards video as one of the most attractive online mediums for both consumers and advertisers.
