24 JUL 2020

MOBILE VIDEO AND GAMING CONSUMPTION SPIKE DURING PANDEMIC

The average US adult will watch more than 2 hours of digital video on their mobiles devices. Consumption will further increase by 5 minutes in 2021. 

24 JUL 2020

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According to Emarketer, mobile media consumption is on the rise as a result of the stay-at-home restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. There has been an acceleration in the acceleration of long-term trends, such as greater consumer interest in mobile video and gaming. Other trends, like digital audio, declined continuously.

Digital Video increased by 12 minutes last year. Emarketer predicts that the average US adult will watch more than 2 hours of digital video in 2020, a 19-minute increase from last year. Consumption will further increase by 5 minutes in 2021.  Connected TVs, along with other connected devices, have generated the largest growth, and mobile video continues to increase.

The data indicates that the average mobile video app engagement time will increase by 10 minutes this year, with only social media ahead in rankings. Overall, mobile video consumption time will gain five minutes amid the decline of video-viewing through the web.

US adults are projected to play mobile app games for an average of 26 minutes, a 3-minute increase. On the contrary, mobile gaming contributed two minutes in 2019. Mobile ad firm, Jun Group has 85% of its ads within mobile games. The firm saw its in-app audience ad requests spike by 98% between 12th March and 5th April, which reflects a significant increase in mobile gaming. While traditional linear TV time will get a boost this year, decline trends that emerged before Covid will resume in 2021. Digital video across devices, however, is projected to continue growing. 

Attribution platform AppsFlyer reported that game developers have been implementing strategies to attract new users through in-app marketing. The strategy boosted marketing in gaming apps in the second half of March, resulting in a 50% increase in in-app gaming revenues between mid-March and 4th May.