Globally “heavy use” of mobile video is growing fast

Last month the IAB and On Device Research released their report (and associated infographic) Mobile Video 2015: A global perspective.

The data really dug down into the frequency of mobile video use. Globally, 58% of mobile video viewers are considered “heavy users” when it comes to short content (videos less than five minutes long).

Additionally, 36% of global mobile video viewers watch long clips (five minutes or more in length) at least daily.

Latin America is really driving this global trend

We know that mobile is a key enabler for many Latin Americans to get online. It is unsurprising, then, that LatAm leads other global regions for mobile video viewing frequency – across both short-form and long-form content.

In Latin America, 61% of mobile video viewers watch short videos at least daily. Additionally, 41% watch long videos at least daily. For comparison, in Asia just 43% of mobile video viewers are watching short clips daily and 31% are watching longer clips.

Brazil leads Latin America for mobile video viewing frequency

Alongside new mobile video data from IAB and On Device Research, Google have also been looking into trends in this area – as part of its comprehensive Consumer Barometer.

According to this data, a massive 42% of smartphone internet users in Brazil watch mobile video each day.

Other key LatAm markets included as part of this study, Argentina and Mexico, see daily mobile video use at 38% and 33% respectively.

Mobile video continues to boom

As Wi-Fi access grows and affordable handsets become more prevalent, more people are keen to watch video on their mobile devices using apps and web-based streaming sites.

Latin American “straight-to-mobile” markets: Brazil, Argentina and Mexico are seeing impressive usage levels due to this.

It is interesting to note the popularity of long-form content on smaller screens, with the majority of mobile video viewers watching at least one 5+ minute piece of content daily. Although many of these viewers do switch to larger screens to watch longer content at times.

For more mobile trends and stats from across the digital sphere, see our Internet Statistics Compendium.