New research from Parks Associates found that the number of hours of video that U.S. broadband households are watching on their mobile phone per week jumped nearly 55 percent since 2015.
The data shows broadband households spent nearly three hours per week watching video content on a mobile phone by the end of 2017.
“In the video services market, change has come quickly, affecting all aspects of the ecosystem,” says Brett Sappington, Senior Director of Research at Parks Associates, in a statement. “Beyond the increased consumption to on-demand viewing, consumer expectations for service features and experience continue to evolve. The journey consumers take in service selection and purchasing is also changing. At the same time, consolidation and the rise of new services produce a challenging competitive environment.”
Live broadcast video, meanwhile, dropped from more than 60 percent of video consumption in early 2012 to 44 percent at the end of 2017.
Parks Associates notes that these changes have resulted in new tactics when it comes to video services, using direct-to-consumer services, online pay TV services, and new monetization models as examples.
“The good news: new opportunities produced by market change ultimately benefit all parts of the ecosystem,” Sappington notes. “Importantly, the consumer is the ultimate winner, enjoying new services, enhanced features, greater personalization, and a superior user experience.”
Still, there is evidence to show that consumers haven’t given up on their bigger screens—even if they’re watching streaming video on them.
YouTube’s chief product officer Neal Mohan last week said that TV screens are actually the fastest-growing device for YouTube, with usage on TVs up 45 percent in the European Union, The Guardian reports.
“Mobile phones aren’t even the fastest growing device these days. It’s actually screens like … the living-room screen or television sets, where people turn on the TV and open up the YouTube app when they come home from work, sitting on the couch or what have you,” Mohan said.
Comcast also last week revealed Xfinity on Campus viewing data that found bigger screens win with college students, who opt for computers over mobile devices. According to the data, twice as much TV consumption happens on laptops and desktops compared to smartphones.