Time spent watching YouTube on connected TVs picks up, and other digital video trends

The trends: Our quarterly overview of digital video notes that Google’s YouTube is becoming less reliant on mobile as more people watch it on other connected devices.

Here are some highlights from the report:

Election effect: 2022 is a midterm election year in the US, and local TV’s share of total linear ad spending will rise slightly this year as political hopefuls run ads. Local TV ad spending is expected to rise 6.9% year over year in 2022, more than double the 2.6% YoY increase for national TV ad spending.

YouTube grows beyond mobile: Many people still watch YouTube on their mobile assets, but other connected devices are making inroads. Mobile will account for 49.3% of all YouTube viewing time this year, down from 53.1% in 2020. Connected devices will account for 36.4% of time spent with YouTube in 2022, a figure that will rise to 39.2% by 2024, per our forecast.

Netflix retools: Netflix stunned with its first subscriber loss in a decade in Q1 2022, and our report notes a worrisome development. The company, which is now planning to adopt advertising, strained to gain viewers across each region in which it operates.

• In addition to shedding subscribers in the US and Canada, the streamer also lost viewers in Latin America, Europe, Middle East, and Africa in Q1. Gains in Asia-Pacific were modest.
• Our report notes that international subscriber additions used to cover up domestic losses, something that didn’t happen in Q1.

Go further: Read our Q2 2022 Digital Video Trends report to learn more.