Interesting trends need to be reported and mobiles have continued to evolve, growing from mere handy communication devices for simply talking and sending messages all the way to listening to music and now watching videos. As the hardware and software for mobiles get smarter, better functions keep coming up. With larger screens and crisper displays on smartphones and tablets thanks to the iPhone, iPad, and Android devices, the revenue generated from mobile videos has been increasing year on year and, according to eMarketer, will reach $548 million in 2010.
Those stats are for the US alone and are bound to increase to $1.3 billion by 2014, which is phenomenal. In the report, revenue is divided into three categories: subscription-based, ad-supported, and pay-per-download. These can be broken down further in earnings as:
Ad-supported: $35 million
Subscription-based: $100 million
Pay-per-download: $413 million
Each of these revenue models is expected to double in the next five years with pay-per-download rising to $901 million, subscription-based revenue reaching $235 million, and ad-supported video exceeding $206 million. The only thing that is keeping the revenue from leveraging every smartphone out there is primarily the fact that data plans and subscriptions cost a lot for users when it comes to viewing videos on devices. Think of it: if Wi-Fi were to be more available on every street corner for free, the ad-supported format would greatly benefit both online video portals as well as boost mobile revenue. Now I am not making this up, the ad-supported models have grown leaps and bounds, given that everyone wants to be entertained without actually paying an extra penny.
Before I wrap this one up, I am just going to be a bit more optimistic and put up my prediction: the ad revenue might actually pass $1.5 billion, once more players step in with high end devices.
Source eMarketer
Jean-Baptiste Su is the technology columnist for L’Expansion, the leading business publication in France. He’s also the co-founder and editor of TechPulse 360, a blog at the crossroads of business and technology, exploring the innovation and companies defining the high-tech and clean-tech industries.
Jean-Baptiste started his journalistic career 18 years ago at IDG in France, first as reporter at InfoPC (PC World) and then senior editor at Le Monde Informatique (ComputerWorld). He later joined Decision Informatique, part of Groupe Tests (01 Informatique, 01net.com…) as senior editor, before heading to France’s financial daily newspaper La Tribune as its local Silicon Valley correspondent.
