Among the heaviest users of video are consumers in Brazil, China, Russia, and South Korea, with 43%, 39%, 36%, and 44% of consumers, respectively, reporting that they use their devices to watch video. That’s all the so-called BRIC countries except India, where feature phones still outnumber smartphones by a wide margin. In the U.S., 28% of mobile phone owners watch video on their phones.
In the U.S. and China more than 70% of video watchers use the mobile web, while 72% of U.S. video consumers use an app. That’s far more than anywhere else in the world and is likely attributable to the availability of faster 3G and 4G networks. Watching video through apps is growing as well in China (55%) and the U.K. (59%), while 57% of Indians download clips for later viewing.
More than 40% of U.S. users watch a least one video a day, while nearly half of Brazilian and Chinese view at least one video a day. Some 37% of Chinese phone owners watch more than one video a day, while a third of Brazilians watch two or more. In the U.S., only 9% of phone owners watch more than one video a day.
There are a couple of developments to watch for going forward. One is whether or not companies that host videos can turn these viewing habits into revenue. The leading global video site is Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube, where virtually all video viewing is currently free.
The second is whether or not mobile viewing eventually displaces traditional TV viewing habits. So far, according to Nielsen, mobile video supplements traditional viewing habits and does not supplant them. That could change as companies like Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), and other web-based video providers add original programming to their arsenal.
The Nielsen report is available here.
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