Ericsson has published the latest edition of its annual ConsumerLab TV & Media Report, which shows that across the globe every third viewing hour is now spent watching on-demand TV and video.
Meanwhile, there has been a 71% increase in watching video on smartphones since 2012, with nearly two-thirds of teenagers’ total TV and video viewing time now spent on a mobile device. Viewing user-generated content is also on the rise, says the report: almost one in 10 watch YouTube for more than three hours per day.
The Ericsson report is one of the largest studies of its kind, covering the behaviour of around 680m consumers around the world.
The 35% on-demand total derives from adding the amount of viewing hours per week devoted to streamed video (which has more than doubled since 2011 to six hours) to the amount of viewing to recorded and downloaded content.
Other findings include the fact that “bingeingâ€, the practice of watching multiple TV episodes in a row, has become mainstream amongst SVOD subscribers, with 87% binge-viewing at least once a week. Meanwhile, 22% of consumers who pay for OTT video content are new to Pay TV.
Linear TV, however, remains popular, the Ericsson report concludes, mainly due to the access it gives to premium viewing and live content, like sports, as well as its social value. That said, half of those viewers watching linear TV say they can’t find anything to watch on a daily basis, with consumers believing that recommendation features are simply not smart or personal enough.
