The Upward Path of Mobile Video
The Upward Path of Mobile Video
Mobile video is steadily rising in popularity and the revenue it is generating is following, illustrating the level of importance this technology will hold in years to come. U.S. revenues for mobile video are projected to increase from $548 million in 2010 to $1.3 billion in 2014, according to eMarketer. What is causing the rise? The demand for bite-sized video for entertainment and utility purposes, anywhere at any time. This demand is totally changing the way buyers and businesses are thinking in terms of expectations and best practices.
According to a 2010 Pew Internet Project study, 69% of connected Americans watch music videos online. And according to Bytemobile’s Mobile Minute Metrics report, one out of ten mobile users are watching video on their phones right this second. Five minutes is the average length of the videos but viewers are only sticking around for the first 60 seconds, which is unsurprising. What does all of this tell us? People want to watch entertainment-based video content wherever they are, and they are viewing this content one snackable bit at a time. Services such as OneMinuteNews.com have realized this. It offers minute-long news stories with social sharing functionality and user-generated content (UGC) submission capabilities.
Mobile video enthusiasts are not limited to just viewing video, however. Mobile apps such as HighlightCam and SocialCam, which is already at 150,000 downloads since its launch this month, allow mobile users to edit video on-the-go as well, enabling them to create their own miniature mobile movies. For brands, this mobile capability opens up opportunities for UGC-based campaigns, where brand loyalists could potentially create meaningful video content to easily submit to a brand for a campaign from anywhere.
Brands are also using mobile video as an increasingly important one-way vehicle to communicate with their audiences. In particular, QR codes have been a popular choice for advertisers. Many brands choose mobile video as the final destination of a QR code: for how-to tutorials, entertainment content or the like. One “classic” example is the Calvin Klein “Get it Uncensored” billboard, which displayed only that phrase, a QR code and the name of the brand. Where did the QR code lead participants? You guessed it. A 40-second video clip (more specifically, a commercial) that users could then share with friends on Facebook or Twitter. Because 60% of all mobile network data volume will be consumed by mobile video by the end of the year, it would be handy to place any QR codes with mobile video embeds in places that have WiFi, just in case.
Mobile video is looking up. What brands will do with it in the future, no one knows. Interactive video companies like Liveclicker are opening the doors to more possibilities; the next step is mobile optimization of the content. Real-time video and video chat on mobile platforms will also open opportunities for mobile video to transition from a one-way to a two-way communication vehicle. We will only continue to see more mobile-optimized interactivity and branded creativity in video moving forward.
Emily Knab, 3.23.2011
