According to Ericsson's (NASDAQ:ERIC) eighth annual "ConsumerLab TV and Media report," 50% of all TV viewing will be on mobile devices by 2020, an increase of 85% since 2010, with smartphones making up half of that total.
Ericsson predicts that on-demand viewing will make up almost half of total viewing in 2020, nearly equaling linear viewing. Additionally, a third of consumers are expected to use virtual reality (VR) by 2020.
Anders Erlandsson, senior advisor, Ericsson ConsumerLab, said: "We can see that consumers are not only watching more video, but also changing how and when they do so. This is also shown through the continued growth of mobile viewing, which has been a booming trend since 2010. This year also marks the first time that we have explored the level of consumer interest in VR in conjunction with media consumption, and the findings have been fascinating. VR has the potential to bring together people from all over the world and create deeper, more personalized, and more complementary media experiences. As consumer expectations for on-demand, mobile and immersive viewing continues to increase, the TV and media industry must focus on delivering highly personalized services in the very best possible quality available."
Time spent watching TV and video content has reached an all-time high of 30 hours a week, Ericsson says, including active viewing of scheduled linear TV, live and on-demand Internet services, downloaded and recorded content, as well as DVD and Blu-ray. However, close to 60% of viewers now prefer on-demand viewing over scheduled linear TV viewing, an increase of around 50% since 2010. The average number of used on-demand services has increased from 1.6 in 2012 to 3.8 services in 2017 per person; two in five consumers already pay for on-demand TV and video services today, and 32% say they will increase their on-demand spending in the next six to 12 months. Portability is also becoming increasingly important factor, with more than a third of consumers wanting access to content when abroad.
Other findings indicate:
- Approximately 70% of consumers now watch videos on a smartphone - double the amount from 2012 - making up a fifth of total TV and video viewing.
- 16-19-year-olds watch the most content each week (33 hours), an increase of almost 10 hours a week since 2010. However, more than half of that demographic spend their time watching content on-demand, with more than 60% of their TV and video viewing hours spent on a mobile device screen.
- While consumers have more access to TV and video services than ever before, the average time spent on searching for content has increased to almost an hour per day, an increase of 13% since last year. About one in eight consumers believe that they will get lost in the vast amount of available content in the future.
- Six in 10 consumers now rank content discovery as "very important" when subscribing to a new service, while 70% want "universal search for all TV and video."
- Though a third of consumers projected to be VR users by 2020, if consumer interest in VR is to increase, several things will need to change. Close to 55% of consumers planning to get VR devices would prefer it if the headsets were cheaper, and almost half think there should be more immersive content available. A third would be more interested in VR if they could get a VR bundle from their TV and video provider.
- Close to a quarter of the surveyed consumers say they already have access to a 4K/UltraHD TV screen, and another third plan to get one.
Data for the report was collected from 13 countries. Approximately 20,000 online interviews were held with people aged 16 - 69 in Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Italy, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, the UK and the United States. All respondents had a broadband Internet connection at home and watch TV or video at least once a week, and almost all use the Internet on a daily basis.
