Mobile behind 20% lift in online video viewing

Globally, people will spend an average of 47.4 minutes a day viewing videos online this year, up from 39.6 minutes in 2016. The increase has been driven by a 35% increase in viewing on mobile devices (smartphones and tablets), while viewing on fixed devices (desktop PCs, laptops and smart TVs) is expected to rise just 2%.

In the UK, consumers will watch an average of 53.3 minutes a day of online video, up from 47.9 last year. Viewing on mobile devices will nearly double, rising from 10.9 to 20.3 minutes.

This is the third edition of Zenith’s report and it classes online video as all video content viewed over an internet connection, including broadcaster-owned platforms like Hulu, ‘over-the-top’ subscription services like Netflix, video-sharing sites like YouTube, and videos viewed on social media, like Facebook.

As viewing grows, so does advertising and Zenith forecasts global online video advertising to grow 23% in 2017 to $27.2 billion, up from $22.2bn in 2016. In the UK, it predicts a rise to £1.7bn from £1.1bn in 2017.