Two-Way Street: 2009 Mobile Video Year in Review

"The partnership opens up new distribution and monetization opportunities for Qik users who have Brightcove accounts by enabling them to publish mobile video content through Brightcove players and integrate ads into their mobile video content via Brightcove," Qik co-founder Bhaskar Roy said in a blog post published on the Brightcove website.

In August, Qik tied itself to two of the biggest names in social networking. The company announced a way for Twitter users to join Qik using their Twitter accounts, while existing Qik users could sign in with Twitter Connect. The company also announced a tighter integration with Facebook. By adjusting their user settings, people who used both Qik and Facebook could automatically share comments made on their Facebook videos to their Qik pages.

Mobile by the Numbers
All this attention to mobile video paid off with huge viewership gains throughout the year. The Nielsen Co.’s "Three Screen Report" released in September showed a 70% increase in the number of people watching mobile video in the second quarter compared to the same period the previous year. That viewing wasn’t happening with subscription services, however. The same study found a dramatic drop in the amount of subscription programming watched by mobile subscribers. In 2Q 2009, the average mobile video subscriber watched 3 hours and 15 minutes of mobile video. That compares with 3 hours and 37 minutes for 2Q 2008. It’s clear that viewers are choosing other methods to get their fill of mobile video, perhaps with services or apps that are already free with their data service fee.

The Nielsen study’s findings on traditional television viewing were the most surprising, however. While internet video viewing grew dramatically and mobile viewing grew even faster, people were still watching more standard TV than ever before. The average viewer watched 139 hours of programming per month in 2Q 2008, a number that grew by 2 hours in 2009. The conclusion that Nielsen put across was that new media didn’t form a zero-sum partnership with existing media. People could choose to add more video viewing to their lives with breakthrough media while still enjoying the same amount of traditional media.

"The entire media universe is expanding so consumers are choosing to add elements to their media experience, rather than to replace them," says Jim O’Hara, president of media project leadership for The Nielsen Co. We can’t help but wonder how long this trend can continue before it reaches a saturation point.

Perhaps the next big trend in mobile video will be video calling. In December, popular social application fring launched a revised version of its iPhone app with video calling. Of course, it can’t offer face-to-face video calling since the iPhone’s camera is on the rear on the phone, so it only accepts incoming calls. Still, if the next version of the iPhone includes a second operator-facing camera, or if people are willing to hold their phones in front of a mirror, the market could grow dramatically. Or maybe not—wouldn’t you hate to have to comb your hair before making a phone call?