M:Metrics: mobile video audience to increase 8%

Mobile video could be the next rage among consumers according to a recent M:Metrics report. Researchers found that the first eight months of 2007 saw viral video increase 36%.

by Kristina Knight

The programmed audience grew 28% from January to August. Mobile video now has 8 million viewers, a growth of 34% since January. About 6.8 million viewers are interested in viral video while 2.7 million are interested in are interested in video delivered from a carrier network.

“This data is very encouraging news for the growth of mobile as an advertising-supported medium,” said Seamus McAteer, chief product architect and senior analyst, M:Metrics. “Clearly, there is the foundation of a market for premium paid video content, which underlies the potentially much more substantial opportunity for free ad supported material.”

Primarily these viewers are interested in short clips, either home-grown or news clips. However, music videos are growing in popularity (34% watch) as are movie trailers (29% watch) and cartoon/animations (18%). For news type content, weather is the most popular at 25% viewership. Sports/news clips are equally popular (25%), followed by local/national/world news (22.9%) and entertainment/celebrity news (22.5%).

“The sizable growth of operator-programmed mobile TV in the United States, where the audience has expanded by 28 percent from January to August 2007, is due to the aggressive promotion of these services,” said McAteer.