Multiple reports speak to the rise of mobile marketing, and others indicate that video is a fast-growing platform. Now, a new report from eMarketer suggests mobile video growth could present marketers a prime opportunity to reach a broad audience of American consumers.
Officials at eMarketer think it is somewhat natural for mobile and video platforms to synthesize. Noah Elkin, eMarketer senior analyst, says, “video consumption on mobile phones can take place through various channels, including paid and free applications, mobile websites, pay-per-view downloads and subscriptions through mobile carriers.”
The predicted growth of mobile video viewership is rooted in steady improvements to mobile video quality. By the end of 2010, eMarketer expects video viewers will rank 23.9 million in number, representing 9.7 percent of mobile phone users and 7.7 percent of overall Amercan consumers. These number are predicted to double by 2013, and in 2014 21.5 percent of mobile users and 17.6 percent of the overall U.S. population are anticipated to watch mobile videos.
With this in mind, marketers may want to consider making their video content mobile-ready or create video content specifically for portable devices. They may also want to invest in ads for mobile videos. Reportedly, mobile video ads currently account for $35 million in ad spend, but this amount is expected to reach $206 million by 2014.
Those who move fast into the mobile video channel may gain an edge in a still-emerging platform, but marketers who want to reach the broadest number of mobile users now might find email is the most suitable method. A recent Nielsen survey shows that accessing email on mobile devices increased from 37.4 percent to 41.6 percent of Americans’ mobile internet time year-over-year, and it maintains its long-standing position as the most popular mobile activity.
