Online video technology provider Ooyala has released its Q1 2017 Global Video Index, revealing for the first time that long-form content represents the majority of time spent watching video on every screen.

This quarter’s report also found that the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region had the largest growth in mobile video consumption globally, jumping 15 percent from a year ago.

Long-form leads on every screen

While short-form video has the greatest chance of being watched in its entirety, for the first time, long-form content (greater than 20 minutes in length) now represents the majority of time spent watching video across all screen sizes, at 63 per cent.

By device, the study finds long-form content now represents:

• 98 per cent of all time spent watching video on connected TVs, up from 83 per cent the year before.
• 81 per cent on tablets, up from 51 per cent the year before.
• 65 per cent on computers, nearly doubling from a year before (35 per cent).
• 55 per cent on smartphones, a 26 per cent increase from the first quarter of 2016.

Global video consumption: mobile paves the way

Mobile viewing continues to be a major driver of OTT growth, reaching a new high of nearly 57 per cent of all video plays in the first quarter of 2017, with smartphones accounting for 47 per cent of total plays and tablets the other 10 per cent.

Although mobile plays were dominant in every region, Ooyala found an 11 per cent variance in consumption between North American viewers and more active viewers in the APAC region, while Europe, the Middle East, Africa (EMEA) and Latin America (LATAM) saw more than 10 per cent year-over-year growth in mobile consumption.

Regionally, the study found that:

• In APAC, 61 per cent of all video plays are on mobile, up from 46 per cent a year ago.
• In EMEA, mobile plays represent 54 per cent of all video plays, up from just 42 per cent a year ago.
• In North America, mobile represents slightly more than half of all video plays, up from 48 per cent a year ago.
• In LATAM, mobile plays topped 56 per cent – up from 46 per cent a year earlier, with tablets representing 5 per cent, the least of any region.

The study also found that broadcasters increased their reliance on tablets for mid-roll ads, delivering 54 per cent of total mid-roll ads on those devices. Mobile devices represent nearly 66 per cent, unseating PCs (26.5 per cent) – a big drop from when PCs held the lion’s share (39 per cent) in in the last quarter of 2016.