Video Trends Report: Mobile Video Plays Doubled YoY In Q4 2014; Up 15% From Previous Month

To no one’s surprise, more and more people are watching video content on their mobile devices. What’s astounding is how fast mobile video consumption is growing.

According to video marketing firm Ooyala, 38 percent of online video plays in Q4 2014 happened on a tablet or smartphone, double the activity in Q4 2013.

Ooyala reports last December’s mobile video views were up 15 percent compared to the previous month, accounting for the highest number of total monthly mobile video views it had witnessed since it began reporting video metrics.

[pullquote]More than 38% of video plays occurred on smartphones and tablet devices. That’s the highest monthly total we’ve seen in more than a dozen quarters.[/pullquote]

Based on data from Ooyala’s more than 500 clients across the world, the report analyzed video viewing behavior of over 220 million global video viewers.

Its data shows online video consumption has been climbing consistently for the past three years, up 16-times what it was in 2011.

Tablet and Smartphone Video Trends

Going beyond video views, Ooyala drilled down to the length of video content most often consumed on mobile versus PCs and connected TVs.

Ooyala’s numbers show 54 percent of mobile phone video viewing is spent on content that runs 10-minutes or less.

Share of Time Watched by Device For Short-Form Videos (10-Minutes or Less)

Seventy-percent of all video watched on tablets during Q4 2014 was content that ran 10 minutes or more in length – the most of any device.

For long form video content ranging 10 to 30-minutes in length, 32 percent of video views happened on a PC, 31 percent on a tablet, 25 percent on mobile phones, and only 17 percent on a connected TV.

Twenty-five percent of videos that run between 30 to 60-minutes happened on a tablet, while only 19 percent happened on a desktop. Mobile phones accounted for 16 percent of views for videos in the 30 to 60-minute range, and connected TVs only 5 percent.

Share of Time Watched by Device For Long-Form Videos (10-Minutes or More)

A segment of Oooyala’s report included ad completion rates and impressions for pre-roll ads in December of 2014 by European broadcasters and publishers.

Based on ad metrics agency Videoplaza’s data, 76 percent of European broadcaster ad impressions during December came from PCs. Nearly 50 percent of publisher ad impressions were on mobile devices: 35 percent on phones and 14 percent on tablets.

“PCs still have a large portion of all ad impressions for many reasons,” says Ooyala, “One being the often higher ad load for PCs than for mobile and tablets.”

Tablets accounted for the highest percentage of ads completed at 83 percent, with broadcasters earning the highest completion rates at 87 percent, and publishers generating a 71 percent completion rate.

Ad Completion Rates by Device & Segment