Analysis

According to Zenith’s Online Video Forecasts 2016 report, mobile devices will overtake "fixed devices" this year to become the main platform for viewing online video. The firm is forecasting that consumers will spend an average of 19.7 minutes a day viewing online videos on their mobile devices (smartphones and tablets), compared to 16 minutes on fixed devices (both desktop computers and smart TV sets).

A new Strategy Analytics report finds that prices for pay TV are holding steady in most countries, though the introduction of "skinny bundles" is driving the minimum cost down in places such as Canada and Denmark.

The number of worldwide pay-TV subscribers reported by the informitv Multiscreen Index rose by 1.68 percent (6.90 million) in the first quarter of 2016. The latest figures show 60 of the 100 leading pay-television services in the latest Multiscreen Index report with net subscriber gains in the quarter.

According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, worldwide revenue from mobile video will reach $25 billion by 2021. The growth in mobile video revenue will be driven by advertisers seeking to reach an increasing audience of users that are consuming video on their smartphones and tablets.

Key findings of Nielsen’s Total Audience Report for Q1 2016 include that SVOD and DVR penetration are now equal at 50 percent of U.S. TV households. Live and DVR/time-shifted TV has 226 million adult users per month, Nielsen says, just behind radio usage at 240 million users per month. Adults spend 4 hours and 31 minutes on live TV per day, down by 1 percent on Q1 2015. Live, DVR and time-shifted viewing is down to 6 hours and 37 minutes.

Parks Associates is urging media companies to develop advertising campaigns that are "integrated and nondisruptive to the viewing experience" for internet video watchers, releasing new data that shows that ad-blocking cost the digital publishing industries some $41.4 billion worldwide in 2015.

The new State of Online Video report from Limelight Networks reveals that pricing has become less of a factor for consumers when making the decision to cut the cord, while the availability of their preferred content has become more important. Seven out of ten consumers subscribe to at least one streaming video service, the survey says.

Retail sales of licensed products hit $251.7 billion worldwide in 2015, representing a 4.2-percent increase on the previous year, with entertainment/character licensing remaining as the largest category. Those numbers were released as part of the 2016 International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association’s (LIMA) Annual Global Licensing Industry Survey conducted by Brandar Consulting.

The economic problems plaguing a number of Latin American markets have led Zenith to lower its forecast for global ad expenditure, which it now projects will rise by 4.1 percent this year as compared with the 4.6 percent gain predicted in March. Zenith said the downward revision was a result of recession and currency devaluation in LatAm territories, including Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela, which account for more than half of the region's ad spend.

According to a new global study, virtual reality will play a decisive role in the future of OTT video, with a majority of OTT companies agreeing that the technology is here to stay. Level 3 Communications commissioned the study, titled The OTT-Video Services Market: Today's Trends and What Is Next for 4K, HDR, HFR and VR and conducted by Unisphere Research in partnership with Streaming Media.