TV? It’s about VOD, on-demand, mobile and UGC now: Ericsson report

• 71% increase in watching video on smartphones since 2012
• Almost 10% watch YouTube for more than 3hrs per day

THE Ericsson ConsumerLab TV & Media Report 2015 shows consumers embracing video-on-demand (VOD) services like never before, with every third viewing hour now spent watching on-demand TV and video.
 
Consumers now spend six hours per week watching streamed on-demand TV series, programmes, and movies, Ericsson said in a statement.
 
This has more than doubled since 2011. Today, every third hour spent watching TV and video is via VOD, the company added.

Further findings highlight the considerable growth in consumers watching video on a mobile device, Ericsson said – 61% watch on their smartphones today, an increase of 71% since 2012.
 
When taking tablets, laptops, and smartphones into consideration, around two-thirds of the time spent by teenagers’ watching TV and video is on a mobile device.

At the same time, user-generated content (UGC) platforms account for a growing share of consumers’ TV and video viewing.
 
Close to one in 10 consumers watch YouTube for more than three hours per day, and one in three now consider it very important to be able to watch UGC on their TV at home.
 
In addition, the study finds that the increasing prominence of UGC-rich platforms, like YouTube, has resulted in a popularity boost for educational and instructional videos, with consumers watching an average 73 minutes of these videos per week.
 
“The continued rise of streamed video-on-demand and UGC services reflects the importance of three specific factors to today’s viewers: Great content, flexibility, and a high-quality overall experience,” said Ericsson ConsumerLab senior advisor Anders Erlandsson.
 
“Innovative business models that support these three areas are now crucial to creating TV and video offerings that are both relevant and attractive,” he added.
 
Other significant findings from the Ericsson ConsumerLab TV & Media Report 2015 include:

• Bingeing is changing the game: Watching multiple TV episodes in a row has rapidly become a key part of the TV and video experience. This habit is prominent among Subscription Video-on-Demand (S-VOD) users of services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and HBO, of whom 87% binge-view at least once a week.

• The difficulty of finding content: Half of consumers watching linear TV say they can’t find anything to watch on a daily basis. Consumers feel that recommendation features are simply not smart or personal enough.

• Different bundles, different attitudes: 22% of consumers who have never had a pay-TV subscription are already paying for over-the-top (OTT) content services.

• Linear TV remains key: The popularity of linear TV remains high, mainly due to the access it gives to premium viewing and live content, like sports, as well as its social value. In this respect, linear TV often acts as a ‘household campfire.’

Based on interviews with over 22,500 people, findings in the Ericsson ConsumerLab TV & Media Report 2015 are representative of 680 million consumers, making it the largest study of its kind in the TV industry, Ericsson said in its statement.
 
With supporting data and insight from on-device measurements and qualitative research, the report details the latest consumer behaviours, attitudes and demands in relation to TV and media, and the potential impact these trends can have on current industry business models.
 
Interviews were undertaken with consumers aged 16-59 and 60-69, across 20 markets: Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Ukraine.
 
All respondents have a broadband Internet connection at home, and watch TV or videos at least once a week. Almost all use the Internet on a daily basis.
 
To download the report, click here.
 
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