Worldwide video usage on
computers is now as common as watching it on traditional television among online consumers. The growth is helped by the rise of video usage of mobile devices.
Looking at 56 countries,
Nielsen says 84% of viewers watch video on computers at least once a month. This is actually a bit higher than television, where the survey says 83% of worldwide consumers watch TV at least once a
month.
This has changed from two years ago where -- on a monthly basis -- 90% of consumers watched video content on TV at least once a month versus 86% on a computer.
What's changed? Over half of global online consumers (56%) say they watch video on a mobile phone at least once a month -- and 28% at least once a day. Overall, 74% of global video consumers watch
video via the Internet, on any device.
Mobile video is strong in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East/African regions of the world, where over 70% of online consumers watch video on mobile
phones at least once a month. About 40% watch at least once a day. But in North America, Nielsen says mobile video is currently less of a big deal -- only 38% of consumers say they watch
mobile video once a month.
Dounia Turrill, senior vice president of client insights of Nielsen, stated: “With the growth of smartphones, mobile video consumption is on the rise for
entertainment content, particularly in emerging markets where many consumers leapfrog home Internet altogether in favor of the all-in-one smartphone.”