Ooyala’s Q1 2014 Global Video Index shows iOS outpaces Android as a smartphone video platform, despite a smaller market share.
Mobile and tablet viewing represented over 21$ of all online video plays in Q1 2014, up from 3.4% in Q1 2012 and just over 9% in Q1 2013. With a year-over-year increase of 532% since 2012, mobile and tablet video consumption is clearly becoming mandatory for any company in the video business.
The report shows that this trend is even greater outside of the US. Ooyala’s data shows that mobile plays in Europe and Latin America outpaced mobile plays in North America, as a percentage of all online video plays. This growth underscores the need for broadcasters and publishers to prioritise mobile strategies, and demonstrates the burgeoning opportunity for advertisers to reach device-specific audiences anywhere, on a massive scale.
“The statistics in our Global Video Index continue to affirm our belief that mobile is in large part the future of video and TV consumption. We see the acceleration of mobile video consumption happening globally, as consumers in every region adopt mobile and tablet video faster, and interact with it longer,” said Jay Fulcher, CEO at Ooyala.
“These insights validate the tremendous opportunity for broadcasters and publishers to tap into additional multiscreen revenue streams, grow and maintain loyal audiences across all devices, and build a fundamentally better video business.”
iOS has historically dominated the market for online video plays, though Android is catching up. According to IDC, worldwide Android device shipments reached 226 million units in Q4 2013, compared to 51 million iOS units. With Android’s growing footprint, and better tools for supporting video playback across the Android ecosystem, Android is gaining momentum as a video device. In some regions it beat iOS, in terms of the number of videos streamed on each platform.
Ooyala data comparing mobile video consumption across geographies shows that the Asia-Pacific region is overwhelmingly Apple-centric, with 82% of video views occurring on iOS devices. In North America, iOS-based phones dominate video viewing with a 60% share.
In Europe, viewers prefer iOS just slightly, with 55% compared to 45% for Android. Android earned higher views over iOS in Latin America, representing 53% of smartphone plays. Countries where Android won out over iOS include Malaysia (64%), India (79%), and Pakistan (81%), as well as Spain and France where Android took 69% and 59% of the overall mobile views during the quarter, respectively.