• by Alex Weprin , November 5, 2018

Don’t count mobile video out just yet. While connected TV devices are growing at a rapid clip, both in terms of consumer adoption and use by marketers, mobile continues to rise right alongside it.

According to Ooyala’s Q2 2018 Global Video Index Report, mobile video plays accounted for 62% of all online videos, up 9.8% compared to the same period a year ago. Globally, video starts on smartphones topped 50% for the first time, marking mobile as the platform of choice for video worldwide.

Significantly, this growth comes after a sluggish Q1, during which mobile video plays only rose 1.8% year over year.

What is driving the growth? The availability of super-premium content and new technologies makes easier and more reliable to watch content.

Never before have consumers worldwide had such easy access to live sports through their mobile devices. In the U.S., for example, many NFL games are available for free to most U.S. mobile subscribers.

Also helping those metrics is virtual multichannel video bundles.

The slow rollout of 5G is poised to supercharge mobile video views even further, just as 4G marked the first time that mobile video was even a reliable option for consumers.

"There are stumbling blocks to widespread adoption of sports viewing on mobile devices, not the least of which is latency. But the pending arrival of next-gen 5G wireless networks — which promise massive bandwidth availability and dramatic decreases in latency — are at least part of the answer,” the Ooyala report says.