Mobile TV viewing to increase by 50 percent in 2020

A new report released by Ericsson as predicted that on demand viewing on mobile gadgets will increase by 50 percent in year 2020 due to massive growth and shift to mobile communication by consumers globally. ”50 percent of all TV and video viewing will take place on a mobile screen (tablets, smartphones and laptops), an […]

A new report released by Ericsson as predicted that on demand viewing on mobile gadgets will increase by 50 percent in year 2020 due to massive growth and shift to mobile communication by consumers globally.

”50 percent of all TV and video viewing will take place on a mobile screen (tablets, smartphones and laptops), an increase of 85 percent since 2010, with the smartphone alone accounting for almost one quarter (an increase of nearly 160 percent since 2010), according to the report released by Ericsson’s Consumer lab TV and Media.

The report stated that “Virtual reality (VR) will be on the road to becoming mainstream, with 1 in 3 consumers becoming VR users by 2020”.

This massive growth, according to the Senior Advisor at Ericsson ConsumerLab, Anders Erlandsson, was as a result of the level of consumers’ interest in Virtual Reality (VR) in conjunction with media consumption.

“We can see that consumers are not only watching more video but also changing how and when they do so. This is also shown through the continued growth of mobile viewing, which has been a booming trend since 2010”.

“This year also, marks the first time that we have explored the level of consumer interest in VR in conjunction with media consumption, and the findings have been fascinating. VR has the potential to bring together people from all over the world and create deeper, more personalized and more complementary media experiences”, he explained.

Findings in the report  also shows that : “Time spent watching TV and video content has reached an all-time high of 30 hours a week, including active viewing of scheduled linear TV, live and on-demand internet services, downloaded and recorded content, as well as DVD and Blu-ray.

“Close to 60 percent of viewers now prefer on-demand viewing over scheduled linear TV viewing, an increase of around 50 percent since 2010. The average number of used on-demand services has increased from 1.6 in 2012 to 3.8 services in 2017 per person; 2 in 5 consumers already pay for on-demand TV and video services today and nearly a third (32 percent) say they will increase their on-demand spending in the next 6-12 months”, the report stated.

The report further added that Portability is an increasingly factor to the growth, with more than a third of consumers wanting access to content when abroad.

“Smartphone viewing also continues to gain ground; approximately 70 percent of consumers now watch videos on a smartphone – double the amount from 2012 – making up a fifth of total TV and video viewing”.

“16-19-year-olds watch the most content each week (33 hours), an increase of almost 10 hours a week since 2010. However, more than half of this demographic spend their time watching content on-demand, with more than 60 percent of their TV and video viewing hours spent on a mobile device screen”.

The findings also showed that while consumers have more access to TV and video services than ever before, the average time spent on searching for content has increased to almost one hour per day, an increase of 13 percent since last year.

“With the user experience becoming ever more fragmented, 6 in 10 consumers now rank content discovery as “very important” when subscribing to a new service, while 70 percent want ‘universal search for all TV and video’,

Following these findings of consumer expectations for on-demand, mobile and as immersive viewing continues to increase, Mr.  Erlandsson urged TV and media industry to focus on delivering highly personalized services in the possible quality available.