Advanced Television

Mobile video on LTE surpasses 3G

September 3, 2014

Citrix has released its Mobile Analytics Report for the second half of 2014. The Mobile Analytics Report provides insight into subscriber behaviour and related factors that determine quality of experience (QoE) for mobile data services. Key findings from the report include:

LTE Surpasses 3G

Mobile subscribers on LTE networks are 1.5 times more likely to watch video than subscribers on 3G networks. Those LTE-surfing subscribers are also viewing longer ̶ 76 per cent of Netflix viewers watch for more than five minutes when viewing over LTE but only 65 per cent do so when watching over 3G – and watching higher resolution content.

Subscribers Get Social with Mobile

Social networking is the most popular mobile application category, with 40 per cent of mobile subscribers engaging daily. According to the report, 47 per cent of social networking data can be attributed to video and 40 per cent to images. Taking a regional view, North American and the Middle Eastern subscribers have the highest video consumption on social networks with video data volume constituting 59 per cent and 62 per cent of total volume, respectively. Meanwhile, video consumption accounts for 39 per cent of European mobile social networking data usage, with APAC following closely behind at 35 per cent.

Mobile Ads

On a given day, half of mobile data subscribers are served ads over the mobile network and the mix of ad types is changing rapidly. The report finds that there has been a 20 per cent increase in mobile video ads since the beginning of 2014, as brands are increasingly using this medium to make their pitch rather than with traditional banner ads. Last year, Citrix found that one video ad was served for every 20 banner ads served over mobile. This year, the ratio has increased to one video ad for every 16 banner ads served.Anna Yong, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Citrix commented: “LTE clearly drives increased demand for mobile video. On average each subscriber makes 1.5 more requests for video content, and each request results in longer viewing times than 3G as demand shifts from more short form content such as that hosted by YouTube, to longer form content such as that hosted by Netflix.”

“Our big data analysis shows that the most popular way to use our mobile devices is to support our interests in social networking. As 40 per cent of mobile subscribers engage in social media, mobile operators have the opportunity to create compelling social networking based tariffs. At the same time, since the worldwide average of mobile social networking traffic from video is 48 per cent, operators need to be cognizant of the network impact of this content and proactively manage the user experience.”

Categories: Ads, Articles, Mobile, Mobile TV, OTT, OTT, Video