Online video consumption shows no sign of slowing down in the next few years. After surpassing the one hour per day mark last year, a forecast [press release] from Zenith estimates that time spent viewing videos online will increase considerably again this year.
The global forecast estimates that the average person will watch 84 minutes of online video this year. This is up from an estimated average of 67 minutes spent per day in 2018. This rate of growth is not unusual, as Zenith reports that between 2013 and 2018 online video viewing grew at an average rate of 32% per year.
Interestingly, in 2018, Zenith had forecast that online video consumption would not reach 84 minutes per day until 2020. This most recent report predicts that viewing time will reach that figure this year and that by 2021, the average person will watch 100 minutes per day. Some countries have already exceeded this amount of consumption with the average person in China and Sweden expected to watch 103 minutes per day this year.
As online video consumption increases, so does its associated ad spend. After an expected expenditure of $45 billion this year, Zenith forecasts online video ad spend to reach $61 billion by 2021. Meanwhile, ad spend allocated for traditional TV is expected to decrease from $183 billion in 2019 to $180 billion by 2021.
Other Key Stats on Digital Video and Video Ads
Here’s a look at some relevant online video stats from other research:
- The growth of mobile video advertising is expected to be more than 3 times larger than non-mobile video advertising in 4 years time.
- On the B2B front, shorter videos are best. B2B online videos less than one minute in length had a completion rate of 68% last year, compared to the 25% completion rate of videos which were more than 20 minutes long.
- More than half (56%) of US consumers prefer video ads which are relevant to the videos they are watching as opposed to ads that are relevant to their browsing behavior or their mindset.
Further information can be found in Zenith’s press release here.
About the Data: Global forecasts are based on an analysis of 51 key markets. Online video refers to “all video viewed over an internet connection, including broadcaster-owned platforms such as Hulu, over-the-top subscription services like Netflix, video-sharing sites like YouTube, and videos viewed on social media.”