At the global level, people who watch online films spend on average six hours and 48 minutes a week watching various types of content. Average viewing time has grown by 59 percent since 2016. Almost half of viewers watch between 1-4 hours of online film each week.
What are the advantages of watching online films
Today, unlike the past when people had to obtain their favorite films as CDs or DVDs, to ease the difficulties of that process, watching films and series online at any internet speed and any desired quality has become common. Platforms for watching films and series online at home alongside family, or even during waiting times and travel, have been provided.
At the global level, people who watch online films spend on average six hours and 48 minutes a week watching various types of content. Average viewing time has grown by 59 percent since 2016. Almost half of viewers sit down to watch between 1 and 4 hours of online film each week.
The popularity of watching online video among people
Mobile phones are the most popular devices for watching video online and have made it possible to watch video everywhere; but subscribers' interest in watching online films at home is greater than in other places. The UK has had the highest home viewing, South Korea the most viewing at work or school, and India the most viewing during commuting or travel.
Uninterrupted watching of programs has reached 2 hours and 29 minutes; that is an 18 percent increase in the past year. 30 percent of people watch videos uninterrupted for 3 hours or more. This is very common in the United States, and uninterrupted viewing for 3 hours is very normal. Uninterrupted viewing for 3 hours or more is very common in the 18-to-35 age group; while people over 60 watch for an hour and a half.
SVOD media and online streaming
The popularity of SVOD services has increased 17 percent in the past year. 70.4% of online video viewers today are members of one or more SVOD services. The highest SVOD membership is in the United States, where each viewer is on average a member of 1.7 SVODs. The lowest degree also belongs to Japan, where each viewer is a member of only 0.86 SVODs and more than 40 percent of them have no SVOD subscription. Viewers aged 18-45 are more likely to be members of an SVOD service network than people older than themselves. 20 percent of them are members of three or more SVODs.
The state of online video in the world
The taste of different age groups in choosing online content is very different. People aged 18 to 25 prefer watching television programs. While older people choose film. Online news and watching sports are more common among people aged 36 to 45. Online video games, user-generated content and professional films on social media are primarily viewed by young viewers. The highest news viewing is by 36-45-year-olds and the lowest amount is by people aged 18-25.
In the United States visitors watch the most online video each week with an average of 8 hours and 33 minutes. India after the United States has similar statistics. In the past year the greatest increase in video viewing among these was in Italy with a 25 percent increase, and after that the UK and France each experienced an 11 percent increase in the viewing rate.
Global viewer statistics show that people between 18 and 35 have spent more than 8 hours a week watching online video, and among them 26 percent spend more than 20 hours a week watching online video. Men watch online video 30 minutes a week more than women.
By examining hours of watching video on television or satellite each week we conclude that respondents use televisions or traditional broadcast sources more, but in the past year this figure has fallen by 10 percent. Italy had the highest amount of video viewing on television and traditional players. 9 hours a week, which included the largest gap between watching online film and using traditional sources, that is a time when people were watching television and satellite 1 hour and 38 minutes more. In contrast Japan has the highest rate of online viewers at 17.6 percent.
Older viewers who are over 26 years of age generally prefer using traditional media and, compared with people between 18 and 25, spend about 1 hour or more watching television or other traditional media. Men use television 40 minutes more than women.
The most popular devices for watching online videos
At the global level, the smartphone is viewers' main device for watching online video. Computers, smart TVs, devices and tablets rank next. In the past year, computers were first. Smartphones are now the main device for watching video in France, India, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and the United States. Smart TVs and devices connected to them, however, are still preferred in England, and computers in Germany. Viewers between 18 and 60 prefer using smartphones. While older people prefer computers. Men still prefer computers for watching any type of video online compared with women, whose choice is the smartphone.
The most important online streaming content
Online film is the most popular online video content. After that come television shows, news, sports, professionally produced video content on social media sites, user-generated content and game streaming.
Online films are the most common type of video content in France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Singapore. Television programs in India, South Korea, England and the United States are more popular than online film. News programs are also very common in France and India. Note that videos produced on social media have the largest audience in India. In past years watching film, television programs, news and sports in France has grown 15 percent, and England also experienced this amount of growth with respect to news and sports programs.
Despite several online video-content platforms, there is no guide to content. This same issue makes quickly finding favorite films and series challenging. Viewers act in the following ways to find the content they want:
27.3% may trust an online streaming service to find content.
22.4% follow recommendations from friends and family.
18.4% or follow the online streaming service's recommendations.
13.1% find it from the news.
7.1% use website advertising.
Viewers in France and England rely more than anything on recommendations from friends and family. Women and men both essentially trust a service website to find content.
The place of online streaming of sports programs
Men watch sport and people playing video games more. While women watch more user-generated content and professional films on social media. Online streaming of sports matches is traditionally accompanied by a 30-second delay. Delays of this kind matter to viewers. 57.7 percent of people have said that if these delays were covered they would prefer to watch sports programs online. If in the live streaming of sports games there is no delay, 65 percent of people between 26 and 45 will use online streaming of sports matches.
Conclusion
All the published information indicates that with the spread of the internet in various countries, internet streaming services have taken an important part of the market. People have welcomed these services for various reasons. The competitive advantage of these services can be seen in gathering a large number of online films, documentaries, series, events and so on. In this way, people can enjoy watching video whenever they wish. With improvement of the internet and the making up of some shortcomings, it is predicted that the VOD market will heat up even more.
Notes:
- This piece, under the title "The State of Online Video 2019", was compiled by Limelight and Namafar translated and published it in Dey (December–January) 99 (2020/21).
[1] Abbreviation of Subscription Video on Demand, meaning video on demand.
Machine-translated from Persian by Namafar; the Persian original is authoritative. Read the original in Persian