Mobile video plays reached 60% worldwide for the first time in the fourth quarter of 2017, picking up a 60.3% share of all video starts, according to Ooyala’s newly released Q4 2017 Global Video Index Report.
In terms of geography, Europe/Middle East/Africa saw had the greatest level of engagement at 63.5%, while North America lagged most of the rest of world at 57.6%, despite seeing mobile video rise 11% from Q4 2016.
In APAC, mobile video plays topped 60% (60.5%) for the third consecutive quarter, and increased nearly 12% from 54.2% a year ago.
Smartphones (47.8%) saw nearly 4X as many video starts as did tablets (12.7%). Share of viewing on PCs fell to 39.57% from 44.3% a year ago.
Like EMEA, the Asia-Pacifc region’s take-up of tablets has helped boost overall mobile plays. Tablets saw 12.68% of all video plays during the quarter, up from 9.5% a year ago and the third consecutive quarter they’ve topped 12%
Across all measured devices, including smartphones, tablets, connected TVs and PCs, viewing time for medium and long-form content grew to over 50% of all content, continuing a trend first noted by Ooyala in 2017.
On PCs, time spent watching long-form content declined to just 37% in Q4 — its lowest point since Q1 2016, when it was 35%. However, time spent watching short-form content on PCs increased to 50%, the most of any device measured.
The study also found that short-form content was essentially flat year-over-year on smartphones (44%), tablets (26%) and connected TVs (0.7%).
Other key findings included smartphone views reaching were more than three times that of tablets, while tablets’ share of all video plays at 12.8% represented a 68% increase from Q4 2016.
According to Ooyala, mobile plays could soon reach - and potentially exceed - a 70% market share, driven by more premium sports assets moving online.
“The primary screen is definitely shifting. All devices are not equal for video viewing,” said Ooyala principal analyst Jim O’Neill. “Consumers are as comfortable watching a sporting event, TV show or movie on a smartphone as they are on a connected TV, but not on their PC or tablet.
