US streaming service, Brightcove says mobile is dominating the Asia Pacific market, as global consumption of its news and entertainment video content surges 40 percent amid COVID-19 lockdowns.
The Brightcove Q2 2020 Global Video Index Entertainment and Media Edition suggests that consumers’ media consumption habits may be permanently shifting away from linear TV.
It comes as an earlier industry survey predicts global video streaming market to reach $US184 billion by the end 2027, expanding 20.4 percent.
The surge in streaming activity in the immediate pandemic sparked some concerns that internet service providers and related infrastructure might not cope with the increased traffic.
The Brightcove study analysed hundreds of billions of recent data points from the company’s customers globally.
The Q2 data shows that consumption of news and entertainment content nearly doubled (40%) from Q1 (23%), while the first half of 2020 compared to 2019, the number of views overall is up more than 30%.
Asia Pacific has been identified as a particular hotspot for growth, according to report author and principal analyst, Jim O’Neill.
“Asia-Pacific’s video streaming market is expected to top $31 billion by 2025, and with 5G technology on the doorstep, we’ll continue to see consumers turning to their mobile devices to stream video content,” he says.
“What’s more, GSMA reports there will be 663 million new mobile internet users in Asia-Pacific by 2025 – adding to the two billion the region has today.
“This statistic, paired with faster networks and more bandwidth, will continue to drive mobile consumption rates even higher than they are today.”
Other notable findings coming from the Asia-Pacific region include:
- Smartphones are the primary screen for video. APAC continues to be nearly all mobile with smartphones seeing their share of video views at or near 90% for several quarters.
- Android-based smartphones continue to dominate the market. Content was eight times as likely to be watched on an Android smartphone than on an iPhone, another trend that has remained consistent for several quarters.
- Consumers increasingly watch ultra-long-form content on mobile devices. Asia-Pacific saw one of the highest rates of consumption for ultra-long-form content (41+ minutes) earning a 66% share.
Brightcove, CEO, Jeff Ray believes 2020 has become video’s evolutionary moment.
“The crisis has impacted people at an emotional and financial level, making the need for human connection through video content more crucial than ever,” he says.
“We’re seeing this play out with the rise of streaming services subscriptions, indicating that the future of entertainment consumption lies in connected and mobile devices – linear television could soon be of the past.”