Video Increasingly Goes Mobile

Evidence continues to mount that the small screen is the new big thing in video consumption.

Mobile devices represented 56% of all video starts, led by smartphones, desktops and, to a smaller degree, tablets, according to Ooyala’s Q4 2016 Global Video Index, based on anonymized online video metrics of the “vast majority” of the online video company’s 500-plus customers.

Boiled down further, some 56% of all advertising-based VOD views came way of smartphones and tablets, the company found.

However, the length of video viewed was directly proportionate to the size of the screen being used. Viewing of longform video (20 minutes or longer) was highest on connected TVs, followed by tablets, PCs and smartphones. On the other end, consumption of short-form video (up to five minutes) was most prevalent on smartphones, followed by PCs, tablets and smart TVs.

Based on current growth patterns, Ooyala expects nearly 60% of all video views to be on mobile devices by the end of Q1 2017.