Juniper Research has forecast that 2 billion mobile and tablet users will be watching TV and video on their devices by 2017. This worldwide growth is being attributed to two main factors: the uptake of higher-quality mobile devices and the growing popularity of short (and easily shared) video clips.
The report notes that many younger people are now using mobile devices as the primary screen for consuming television and video content, with viewing information often shared across social networks. Streaming services are beginning to affect the ‘Pay TV’ business, with the threat of consumers choosing internet streaming as an alternative to conventional Pay TV leading many television providers to introduce multi-platform strategies.
Siân Rowlands, the author of the report, said “We are now seeing companies such as YouTube trialling paid channels to get a slice of the marketplace. This will have incredible repercussions throughout the mobile space given YouTube comes preinstalled on an immense number of devices and the Android platform’s billing options”.
Western Europe is expected to account for over a fifth of the world’s mobile TV and video users in 2017.
[Whitepaper; report]