Mobile devices will become the main viewing platform for online video this year, but advertising expenditure will still favour fixed devices, Zenith's Online Video Forecasts report has found.
Consumers around the world will spend an average of 19.7 minutes a day viewing video on smartphones and tablets compared to 16 minutes on fixed devices such as desktops and smart TVs.
It is the first time mobile video viewing has overtaken fixed devices. This is due to a 39% increase in daily mobile viewing YOY compared to no growth on fixed viewing.
Zenith predicts mobile viewing will grow to 33.4 minutes a day in 2018, accounting for 64% of all online video consumption.
Advertiser spending on online video, which was US$17.5 billion in 2015, is predicted to grow at an average rate of 19.8% a year to US$30.1 billion in 2018, which is nearly a third of total digital spend and taking market share away from traditional banners.
While mobile is driving a lot of the consumption growth, the study says the majority (68%) of expenditure will pour into fixed video ads because they are more engaging on larger screens. It is not until 2018 that mobile video expenditure is expected to catch up to fixed.
“The spread of mobile devices and high‐speed connections means consumers will have online video content at their fingertips throughout the day,” says Zenith head of forecasting Jonathan Barnard.
“This creates new opportunities for advertisers to communicate with consumers, using online video ads to combine the brand‐building power of audiovisual advertising with pin‐point targeting and personalisation.”
The report also found that many markets are starting to view online video as complementary to TV advertising and TV and online video will account for 49.6% of global display advertising in 2018.
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