ABI Research says mobile video usage is expected to grow dramatically during the next five years - but it won’t become the ‘new voice’.
Video telephony, video sharing and video messaging services over mobile networks were used by less than 47 million consumers at the end of last year. However, usage is expected to grow eight-fold to reach 390 million users in 2016. Despite this, free video services will prevent it from rivalling voice as a major revenue source for network operators.
Aapo Markkanen, senior analyst at ABI Research, said “Only a small minority of consumers are willing to pay a premium price for video calls. Video services will be monetized by their bundling with other communication media, promoting premium features to enterprises, and delivering advertisements. Traditional mobile services didn’t evolve in a practical sense with the operators in the driver seat. I seriously doubt they can reinvent video services.”
[Report]