Field Reports
Mobile Browsing of Video Content Up 40 Percent in 4Q 2010
By Jackie Jones ( jackiejones@questex.com)
NEW YORK — The number of U.S.
consumers viewing video on their mobile devices increased about 40 percent
in both the third and fourth quarters of
2010, according to new research from
The Nielsen Co.
There were about 25 million mobile
subscribers browsing content via their
cellular devices, according to Nielsen’s
“State of the Media” report.
“The growing popularity of mobile
video is due, in part, to the rapid adop-
tion of media-friendly mobile devices,
including smartphones,” the Nielsen
report said. “Over time, it has also
become easier to find, view and share
mobile video, either via mobile apps or
the mobile Web.”
Mobile video viewers watched an
average of 4 hours and 20 minutes of
mobile video per month in 3Q and 4Q
2010 — a 33-percent and 20-percent
increase year-over-year in each quarter,
respectively, according to the Nielsen
report.
Though the overall audience
for mobile video is still less than 10
percent of all mobile users in the U.S.,
the growing amount of consumers who
are purchasing smartphones is expected
to drive the trend upward even further
in the future. Whereas only 23 percent
of U.S. mobile users had smartphones
in 4Q 2009, 31 percent of consumers
owned smartphones by the end of 2010,
Nielsen said.
