Video viewing via mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, game consoles, etc.) rose dramatically in 2012, accounting for 12% of total video viewing in the fourth quarter, up 10 percentage points from 2% a year earlier, according to an analysis by FreeWheel.
Below, additional findings about non-user-generated video for the fourth quarter of 2012 from FreeWheel, a video monetization company.
Video viewing on devices other than PCs and Macs grew 30% in the final quarter of 2012 alone:
Though video consumption via mobile constitutes is a small proportion of total online viewing, Apple devices dominates mobile viewing—accounting for 60% of all Mac/non-PC viewing in the fourth quarter of 2012.
The iPad accounted for 24% of the overall iOS total, the iPhone accounted for 30%, and iPod touch devices accounted for the remaining 6% of its overall share.
Meanwhile, video viewing via Android devices accounted for 31% of total viewing during the period.
Though Android devices recorded major volume gains in the last two quarters of 2012, the OS only accounts for one-half the viewing via iOS devices.
Apple' strong lead is due to its dominance in the tablet market, a space Android has yet to substantially penetrate, according to FreeWheel.
Other key findings:
- The amount of professional, rights-managed video content being consumed online continues to rise, with total video views up 23% year over year.
- Video ad volume spiked 47% year over year, fueled by holiday spending and increased ad loads: Long-form content (20+ minutes) had an average of 9.4 video ads per video view in 4Q12, up from 6.9 in 4Q11; pre-roll and mid-roll volumes rose 45% and 60%, respectively, over the same period.
- Despite higher ad loads, video ad completion rates are at an all-time high across content lengths: 93% for longform content (20+ minutes), 81% for mid-form content (5-20 minutes), and 68% for short-form content (<5 minutes).
- Use of the 15-second video ad decreased steadily over the study period, while the 30-second ad gained share: 34% of video ads are 15 seconds, while 42% are 30 seconds. The inverse was true in Q4 2011
About the data: Findings are based on data from over 13.5 billion video ads (pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll) in the fourth quarter of 2012, primarily among US-based activity on behalf of US-based content producers. The data here represents only video that is rights-managed: aggregate monetization data for professional content from FreeWheel's customers, and does not reflect trends for user-generated content.
