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Nearly 25% of Americans Watch Video on Mobile Phones

Consumers in the U.S. watch more TV and mobile video than those in Germany, Sweden and urban China, and while most still watch video on a PC, nearly a quarter (23%) watch video on a mobile device, according to results from the first phase of Cisco’s Visual Networking Index (VNI) Pulse survey.

The study, which assesses worldwide consumer video behaviors and attitudes, is conducted by the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication on behalf of Cisco. The first phase highlights consumer video consumption and attitudes about video in the United States, urban China, Germany, and Sweden, writes Marketing Charts.

According to the survey:

• Among the countries studied, U.S. consumers watch the most TV, at 3.8 hours per day. Germans watched 2.9 hours, Swedes watched 2.1 hours, and urban Chinese watched 1.8 hours.
• Urban China has the largest percent of users who watch online video via their PCs, at 97%, with the U.S. following at 81%.
• The U.S. has the largest percentage of users watching video on a mobile phone, at 23%.
• U.S. respondents who watch video on their mobile phone spend an average of 36 minutes per day doing so. They report watching video most for entertainment, information and education.
• 85% of German respondents are interested in viewing internet video on their TV sets, compared with 55% of Swedes, 54% of Americans, and 35% of urban Chinese.
• U.S. respondents watch 2.5 times as much professional video content (TV programs and movies) as they do user-generated video content on their PC or laptop. German respondents watch twice as much user-generated video on their PC or laptop as they do professional video content.
• On average, American respondents who use a PC or laptop to view video spend 1.5 hours per day doing so. They are well ahead of the Swedes (who spend 0.7 hours per day), equal to the Germans (1.5 hours per day) and slightly below the Chinese (1.9 hours per day).

“People around the world of all demographics are using networked video as a communications medium to connect with the people and the content they care about most,” said Ken Wirt, VP of consumer marketing for Cisco. “Whether they are seeking entertainment, information, education or communications, people are using video to meet their needs. With medianet-enabled networks as the platform for these consumer video experiences, service providers can enable the highest-quality visual networking experiences possible.”

A report released by eMarketer in August suggested that many of the issues that have held up the mobile video advertising market were being resolved, and that consumers would begin to adopt mobile video at a greater pace. At the time, applied market intelligence firm iSuppli estimated that mobile video advertising worldwide would reach $427 million in 2008 and nearly $3.8 billion in 2011. However, those figures were released before the recession had fully sunk its teeth into the U.S. economy.