MOBILE VIDEO: Inside The Massive Explosion, And What It Means

Mobile video has exploded for a few main reasons. One is the rollout of faster 4G LTE wireless networks, which support on-the-go video habits.

A second reason is that younger audiences are adopting mobile video habits very quickly.

Another is the spread of tablets. Devices like the full-size iPad and Kindle Fire — with their nine or 10-inch high resolution screens — are emerging as consumers' favored video playback devices. The tablet owner is therefore emerging as a hotly pursued target for mobile video.

In a new report, BI Intelligence breaks down the mobile video ecosystem, analyzing the behavior and devices behind the growth in consumption, examining the demographics and behavior of mobile video consumers, detailing how mobile video monetization is booming, and looking at potential barriers to mobile video's continued rise.

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Here's a brief overview of how tablets are driving an explosion in mobile video:

• Tablet use peaks in the evening hours and weekends, when households historically have gathered around TV sets: Tablets are also family-friendly and are often shared by parents with their children. Because tablet users watch video according to patterns similar to those of traditional TV audiences, they are easier to understand and target for marketers and broadcasters who are already comfortable with the world of TV. For example, tablet video viewers tend to spend most of their time on longer videos.
• Video is one of the main reasons people use tablets: comScore consumer data for 2012 shows that two video-related activities — playing videos and sharing them — are among the top ten favorite things to do for tablet users. For smartphone users, neither activity cracks the top-10 list.
• Tablet users tend to have higher conversion rates than those on smartphones: This has already been borne out in the context of search ads and e-commerce, and the touchable surfaces and larger screens suggest that tablet video ads would enjoy the same benefit.
• Tablet owners are far more likely than the average U.S. consumer to disconnect their pay TV subscriptions: They are far more likely to use alternative streaming and download services like Hulu, Apple TV, iTunes, Netflix, and Google TV, according to a January 2013 survey from Morgan Stanley.
• Among younger viewers in the U.S., millennials aged 14 to 23, tablets are nearly as popular for watching TV shows as Blu-rays or DVDs: Twenty-five percent of respondents in this age group say they watch TV shows on tablets everyday or weekly, compared to 24 percent who do so on DVD or Blu-ray, according to Deloitte's State Of The Media Democracy survey conducted in late 2012.

• Breaks down the mobile video ecosystem
• Analyzes the behavior and devices behind the growth in mobile video consumption
• Examines the demographics and behavior of mobile video consumers
• Details the mobile video monetization opportunity
• Looks at potential barriers to mobile video's continued rise