Mobile Video Monetization 2019

Subscription and Ad Opportunities Abound as Viewing Surges

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About This Report
Mobile video viewing habits are evolving, and along with that comes a variety of opportunities for creators and publishers to monetize their content—and, in turn, for marketers and advertisers to reach audiences.

Executive Summary

Mobile video viewing is booming. People aren’t just watching more clips on YouTube or Facebook. They’re also using their phones to view longer, more premium content, which is changing the nature of mobile video monetization.

How much mobile video do people consume?

A lot, as it turns out. Eight in 10 US smartphone users watch mobile video, a total of 191 million people. The average US adult spends 40 minutes a day watching mobile video, with one in five watching more than an hour a day.

What content types are most popular?

Increasingly, long-form premium content on over-the-top (OTT) channels is most popular. The majority of mobile videos are still less than 5 minutes long, but 83% of mobile video minutes are spent watching programs at least 21 minutes long.

How are mobile video platforms monetizing?

A few are using subscription models exclusively, but most mobile video is ad-supported to some degree.

How much money are advertisers spending on in-stream mobile video ads?

We estimate that around half of mobile video ads are actually served on video platforms (the other half is native ads in nonvideo media), so around $11 billion in 2019. The largest single portion of this ad spending occurs in YouTube.

WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT? This report looks at mobile video across platforms and the ways in which publishers, creators and advertisers can benefit.

KEY STAT: In the US, 190.9 million people will watch video on their smartphones in 2019. This represents 81.2% of digital video watchers.

Here’s what’s in the full report

2files

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13charts

Reliable data in simple displays for presentations and quick decision making.

22expert perspectives

Insights from industry and company leaders.

Table of Contents

  1. Executive Summary
  2. How Big Is Mobile Video?
  3. Monetization
  1. Key Takeaways
  2. eMarketer Interviews
  3. Read Next
  1. Sources
  2. Media Gallery

Interviewed for This Report

Ken Blom
BuzzFeed
Senior Vice President, Strategy and Operations
Interviewed October 14, 2019
Tal Chalozin
Innovid
Co-Founder, CTO
Interviewed September 4, 2019
Liz Cole
Digitas
Vice President and Group Director, Social Strategy
Interviewed October 15, 2019
Joel Cox
Strategus
Co-Founder, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Innovation
Interviewed September 13, 2019
Jag Duggal
Facebook
Director, Product Management
Interviewed September 30, 2019
Katie Evans
Telaria
COO
Interviewed August 29, 2019
Mike Fisher
MediaMath
Vice President and Head of Advanced TV and Video
Interviewed July 18, 2019
Freddy Friedman
Smaato
Chief Product Officer
Interviewed August 14, 2019
Anne Frisbie
InMobi
Senior Vice President, Global Brand and Programmatic and Head of Sales, North America
Interviewed October 28, 2019
Mike Green
Brightcove
Vice President, Product Marketing and Technology Partnerships
Interviewed October 18, 2019
Jeremy Huber
InMobi
Head of Insights, North America
Interviewed October 28, 2019
Dan Hurwitz
Penthera
Chief Revenue Officer
Interviewed September 9, 2019
Danisha Lomax
Digitas
Vice President, Director of Paid Social
Interviewed October 21, 2019
Brian Rifkin
JW Player
Co-Founder, Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships
Interviewed September 9, 2019
Kevin Schaum
SpotX
Vice President, Advanced Solutions Group
Interviewed October 23, 2019
Lexi Sydow
App Annie
Senior Markets Insights Manager
Interviewed August 29, 2019
Mary Vestewig
Extreme Reach
Senior Director, Video Account Management
Interviewed October 31, 2019
Offer Yehudai
Fyber
President
Interviewed August 16, 2019
Art Zeidman
Collab
Executive Vice President, Growth
Interviewed September 17, 2019
Christa Carone
Group Nine Media
President
Interviewed October 10, 2019
Megan Jordan
YouTube
Managing Director, Global Partner and Content Solutions
Interviewed August 14, 2019
Frank Spada
Complex Networks
Director, Paid Media and Digital Strategy
Interviewed October 8, 2019

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authors

Yoram Wurmser

Contributors

Ross Benes
Analyst
Blake Droesch
Junior Analyst
Chris Keating
Research Director
Nicole Perrin
Principal Analyst
Chuck Rawlings
Researcher
Debra Aho Williamson
Principal Analyst

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