For Mobile Video Viewing, Friends Matter More than Search: Study
Mobile video-viewing is taking off, but so far the industry hasn't looked much as how viewers discover the content they watch. Today, social video community Telly released the results of a study conducted by Harris Interactive showing that viewers rely on friend recommendations more than search.
In the United States, 78 million mobile device owners (a third of all device owners) watch videos on their mobile tech. From that group, two-thirds (67 percent) watches videos based upon recommendations from friends. Those recommendations come from social networks, email, or text message. Only 41 percent of mobile viewers find videos through search engines. Searching within video apps, such as YouTube and Vimeo, however, is also a popular way to discover content: 64 percent search within apps.
Breaking down the social recommendation area, the study finds that 45 percent of U.S. adult viewers watch videos shared by friends on social networks using those network's mobile apps, 36 percent watch videos recommended in emails from friends and family, and 29 percent watch videos shared through text messages.
The results highlight that search and discovery on mobile devices is vastly different from search and discovery on the desktop, says Telly. The Harris study questioned over 2,000 adults in the U.S. and asked about their viewing habits. Telly has a blog post on the survey with additional findings.
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