Globally, the average amount of time per day people will spend consuming video will increase to 23.3 percent in 2015 and an additionally 19.8 percent in 2016, according to the Online Video Forecasts report ZenithOptimedia in conjunction with Newcast.
Driven by the rise of the Smartphone and tablet, the growth of video consumption can also be attributed to changes in consumer behavior. Mobile device video consumption will grow from approximately 44 percent in 3015 and nearly 35 percent in 2016. ZenithOptimedia expects mobile to become the main platform for viewing online video next year.
Linear TV viewers to decline in 2016
ZenithOptimedia predicts that the number of people regularly watching traditional, linear TV will peak in 2015, and then experience a decline, starting in 2016. The company forecasts that the number of regular linear TV viewers will rise 3.1 percent in 2015 but then shrink by 1.9 percent in 2016 and 0.9 percent in 2017. As we reported in our Media Consumption Forecasts 2015 report (published in June), the amount of time people spend watching linear TV has been in slow decline for several years.
Advertising expenditure on online video will soon account for an eighth of total Internet adspend
Online video’s share of global digital adspend is rising rapidly: it was 8.8 percent in 2012 and 10.2 percent in 2014; by 2017 it is expected to rise to 12.8 percent. Online video is the fastest-growing category of Internet advertising: we forecast it to grow by 28.9 percent to US $16.1 billion worldwide in 2015, followed by 22.5 percent growth in 2016 and 19.7 percent growth in 2017, when it will total US $23.7 billion.
Mark Waugh, global managing director, Newcast, says, “Consumers all around the world are rapidly embracing online video, because it offers them a near limitless array of engrossing content. Some of the keenest users are the young, affluent viewers who are hardest to reach on television. Brands are finding online video a particularly effective way to reach these valuable audiences, not just with advertising, but also with branded content; content that can inform or entertain consumers in a deeper and richer way than is possible with short, interruptive ads.”
*Note that figures for video consumption and number of viewers refer to the 40 key markets covered in this report. The figures for online video adspend are global.
