Online video viewing is expected to see a 20-percent increase in 2017, according to Zenith’s Online Video Forecasts 2017, with mobile devices driving the growth.
Zenith predicts that global consumers will spend an average of 47.4 minutes a day viewing videos online this year, up from 39.6 minutes in 2016. This increase will be led by a 35-percent gain in viewing on mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) to 28.8 minutes a day.
Viewing on fixed devices (desktop PCs, laptops and smart TVs) will rise by just 2 percent, to 18.6 minutes a day. In fact, 2017 will be the peak year of fixed-device video. Viewing on smart TVs continues to rise, but not fast enough to compensate for the decline in viewing on desktops and laptops.
The forecast is that global expenditure on online video advertising will grow 23 percent in 2017 to $27.2 billion, up from $22.2 billion in 2016. Annual growth peaked at 37 percent in 2014 and has since fallen gradually. Zenith predicts 21-percent growth in 2018, and 17-percent growth in 2019, when online video ad expenditure will reach $38.7 billion.
“Online video is one of the fastest-growing channels of advertising, triggering heavy demand from brands for high-quality content,” said Jonathan Barnard, the head of forecasting and director of global intelligence at Zenith.“Video platforms that can capture the attention of the most consumers with the best content will reap the highest rewards.”
“Online video gives brands the opportunity to use powerful digital technologies to engage with consumers as individuals, not demographics, in the sort of high-engagement environment that makes television advertising so effective for brand-building,” said Vittorio Bonori, Zenith’s global brand president. “Television and online video and television work well together as complements, the former offering reach and shared experiences, and the latter offering targeting and personalization.”
