A Pew Internet and American Life Project survey on mobile and wireless usage contains few surprises. Traditional television’s importance to the average American is diminishing while dependency on mobile phones and internet access grows. For the first time, a majority of Americans with mobile phones said the devices would be very hard to give up, yet only 43% said television would be hard to give up.
Of the ten mobile activities the survey covered, watching video was clearly the least popular — taking a backseat to text messaging, picture taking, and music playing. Only 10% of all mobile device users have sampled mobile video offerings, with 3% watching regularly. The numbers are more promising among the young — 18-29 year-olds have sampled and watch mobile video at nearly twice those rates. As they age, mobile video will migrate to the mainstream.
Two interesting findings for video content creators:
- Users record video content at roughly the same frequency as they consume it. This means that user-generated content offerings may gain traction at a faster rate in the mobile space than they have in traditional media. Look for online video editing and sharing services such as Motionbox to expand their mobile service offerings.
- English speaking Hispanic Americans are embracing all manner of mobile services at faster rate than other demographics. Keep an eye on how traditional media outlets roll out their mobile video strategy.
Widespread mobile video adoption is still years away, but getting up to speed on user expectations will put you in a better position to profit from mobile video production when clients ask for it.