According to the Diffusion Group, mobile video viewing on smartphones and tablets will experience strong growth over the next decade (2015-2025), taking share from both legacy TV and PC-based broadband video viewing. By 2025, mobile video is expected to account for more than 20% of total video viewing minutes among U.S. consumers (including legacy TV).
"The concept of 'watching television' is being redefined," wrote TDG Senior Analyst Joel Espelien, "transforming from a social medium characterized by groups of viewers sitting in front of the living room television, to an individual medium defined by solitary viewers watching programs on smaller, more personal devices such as tablets and smartphones."
The research house says the transformation represents the replacement of mass-market broadcasting by personalized video apps, some of which are already generating half of their total video traffic from such devices.
Driving the shift is a combination of factors, among them the strong personal relationship between consumers and their mobile devices, as well as rapid product development cycles, ubiquitous high-speed mobile data services, the expanding array of video apps, and the use of smaller screens as second home TV sets.
Espelien notes that, ironically, mobile video is primarily about in-home viewing, rather than viewing while on the go. "According to February 2015 TDG research, close to 80% of tablet viewing and 50% of smartphone viewing takes place in the home. It's less about 'mobile viewing' as commonly imagined and more about the individualization and personalization of TV itself."