Ericsson recently launched the latest edition of the annual Ericsson ConsumerLab TV and Media Report, which represents of the views and habits of 680 million consumers in North America, South America, Europe and Asia – making it one of the largest studies of its kind.
A key finding is that Video-on-Demand (VOD) services are succeeding in meeting
consumer needs, thus allowing consumers to change their viewing habits.
Consumers now spend six hours per week watching streamed on-demand TV series,
programmes, and movies – this has more than doubled since 2011. With recorded
and downloaded content added to the equation, today 35 per cent of all TV and video viewing is spent watching VOD.
Further findings highlight the considerable growth in consumers watching video on a
mobile device: 61 per cent watch on their smartphones today, an increase of 71
per cent since 2012. When taking tablets, laptops, and smartphones into
consideration, nearly two thirds of 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 ten 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.
Anders Erlandsson, senior advisor, Ericsson ConsumerLab, says: “The continued rise
of streamed VOD and UGC services reflects the importance of three specific factors
to today’s viewers: great content, flexibility, and a high-quality overall experience.
Innovative business models that support these three areas are now crucial to
creating TV and video offerings that are both relevant and attractive.”
Other significant findings from the Ericsson ConsumerLab TV and 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 per cent 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: Twenty-two per cent 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’.
