You would think that users are watching videos on their mobile phones while on the go, but you would be wrong. According to IAB’s research (where IAB stands for the Interactive Advertising Bureau), 63% of digital video screening on mobile phones happens at home, with 36% of these home-based digital video activities taking place in a room where a second screen — a TV, desktop computer or tablet — is also available. This in turn opens significant cross-media opportunities for brand marketers when tying mobile digital video to live TV programming or linking magazine ads to relevant mobile clips.
The research also unveiled that an overwhelming majority (92%) of viewers share mobile video they have watched on their phone with others. And with mobile videos being ranked third on the list of high-time-spent (one hour or more per week) activities conducted on mobile phones, behind playing games and social media, the propensity for sharing video provides a strong vehicle for taking video ads along for the viral ride.
In addition, IAB has also found the mobile video usage grows steadily throughout the day, peaking in evening “prime time TV” hours. What’s more, 22% of video interactions were to access content viewers planned to watch, 18% were out of boredom, and only 3% because no other screen was available.
The study goes on suggesting that the most frequently viewed genres in mobile video are music videos (45%), followed by movie trailers (42%), tutorials/how-to’s (41%), and funny short video clips (37%). From this bunch, humorous short clips and music videos are the most likely to be shared at 66 and 52 percent, respectively.
Finally, when asked about their feelings towards mobile video ads, 53% said that they are positive or neutrally receptive towards mobile video advertising, 48% said they would prefer seeing video ads that are related to the content of the video clips being watched, while 44% recalled seeing an ad while watching mobile video, with short 10-15 second spots being the most recalled format…
The entire study along with excerpts from real world mobile phone digital video diaries is available from here.