In Broadcast - August 2015 - 62

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 5 - Issue 8 | August 2015

InUSA

Large Screen Sizes Fade In
Favour Of Portable Devices
The day of the dominance of large-screen TV in the living room is far from over, but reports note
that it is fast diminishing, by Michael Grotticelli...

here was a time when the main
television in the living room got
all of a family's attention and second
screen devices like laptops and
cellphones were just that, an alternate
way to follow along with (or watch) a
television programme.
It appears that that large screen,
which is rapidly coming down in price,
is not where people are mostly viewing
video anymore. According to the
latest Global Video Index report from
Ooyala, 42% of total online viewing is
done on mobile devices - smartphones
and tablets. As a comparison, and
reflecting the universal acceptance of
mobile platforms, in Q1 of 2012 that
percentage was just 3.4%, and rose to
9.2% by 2013.
And, bucking another long-held
belief that viewers wouldn't watch
long-form videos on small screens,
Ooyala's report, which was culled
from interviews with more than 500
customers, says that for those that
use tablets, 60% of the time viewers
are watching video for ten minutes
or longer. On mobile phones, 37% of
viewing time is at least ten minutes,
and for PCs it's 35%.
"Mobile video is on pace to exceed
50% of all online video plays by the
third quarter of this year, perhaps
sooner," the report claims.
However, for me, the biggest finding
in all of this is that screen size is

Tablet & Smartphone video trends

becoming irrelevant, even for longer
video content. The report says that
"screen size is the latest factor to
become a non-issue for TV viewers,
alongside other non-issues like
location (not just the living room) and
scheduling. More content is available,
consumed and in on-demand, à la
carte fashion than ever before".
The report goes on to say:
"Publishers, broadcasters and service
providers should view this as a critical
juncture, the point where a majority -
rather than a plurality - of online video
views occur on mobile devices. Some
operators have taken tactical steps to
address the broad consumer trends
that are growing mobile video - like
pushing more content over the top,
creating better user interfaces and
improving mobile monetisation."
But even viewing of short videos is
going through changes: Viewing of
shorter (less than 10 minute long)
videos is now common on PCs (65% of
the views on that device), slightly more
than mobile phones (63%) which is
really not much more than connected
TVs (57%). And the majority (53%) of
what they are watching is broadcast TV
fare, not wonky YouTube videos.
Mobile Strategy
The bottom line, says Ooyala: "As
faster, bigger and less expensive
smartphones come to market, and as
wireless providers continue to relax

their data caps and supply more
opportunities to connect to Wi-Fi, the
growth of mobile as a first screen will
continue."
It says many in the industry are
sorely lacking a mobile strategy when
it comes to implementing an online
video delivery platform. And, it says
that publishers, broadcasters and
service providers should view this
moment in time as "a critical juncture,
the point where a majority - rather
than a plurality - of online video views
occur on mobile devices."
Broadcasters and content creators
should look at this report, and others
like it, and recognise the subtle shift
that is occurring among consumers
to their portable devices as "the first
screen." Going forward, content has to
be designed for both the large screen
and the cell phone. No one wants to
lose eyeballs, so it is good business
sense to keep viewers engaged on
every platform.
Screen size is being democratised by
online video content, and people are
clearly spending more time watching
long-form content on ever-smaller
screen sizes. It's really an irreversible
time that has come to fruition. A
few years ago comedian Jon Stewart
held up a cell phone at the Academy
Awards and joked that he was
watching Lawrence of Arabia.
It's not a joke anymore.

Report charts the
rise of mobile device viewing

Video Streams...
Ooyala said that, working with its
broadcast clients (such as ESPN,
Univision, Sky Sports, Foxtel, TV4
in Sweden, Mediaset in Spain and
Mediacorp. in Singapore), it ingested
and transcoded over 100 million
minutes of video in 2014.
That content was delivered to over
220 million unique users around
the world and those users played
over 10 billion streams, comprising
almost 30 billion hours of video.
The company also managed
inventory for 30 billion video ad
impressions and delivered over 11
billion ads in 2014.

Screen size is a "non-issue" for many viewers

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