According to research included in the third edition of Zenith’s annual Online Video Forecasts report, global consumers will spend an average of 47.4 minutes a day viewing videos online this year, which is up from 39.6 minutes in 2016. The increase is attributed to a 35% increase in viewing on mobile devices to 28.8 minutes a day, while viewing on fixed devices, which includes PCs and smart TVs, will rise by just 2% to 18.6 minutes a day. In the UK, consumers will watch an average of 53.3 minutes a day of online video, rising from 47.9 minutes in 2016. Viewing on mobile devices will nearly double, rising from 10.9 in 2016 to 20.3 minutes this year.
The amount of available video content is rising rapidly across all platforms, but social media platforms have added tools to encourage users and brands to create and share videos, and are now broadcasting live video streams. In many markets, Facebook is now the second-biggest supplier of video content, after YouTube.
Video viewing on fixed devices will peak this year, which global consumers spending an average of 19 minutes a day viewing. Viewing on smart TVs continues to rise, but not rapidly enough to compensate for the decline in viewing on desktops and laptops, as consumers shift their attention to mobile devices. It is forecast that viewing on fixed devices will shrink 1% in 2018 and 2% in 2019.
Viewing on mobile devices averaged 29 minutes a day this year, and will grow 25% in 2018 and 29% in 2019. By then, mobile devices will account for 72% of all online video viewing, which is up from 61% this year.
There is also a rapid growth in video advertising, and it is forecast that global expenditure on online video advertising will grow 23% in 2017 to $27.2 billion, which is up from $22.2 billion in 2016. Zenith believes there will be 21% growth in 2018, and 17% growth in 2019, when online video advertising expenditure will reach $38.7 billion In the UK, the rise will be to $2.2 billion from $1.4 billion in 2017.
Video viewing on mobile devices to double this year
