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80% of mobile videos watched happen on iOS devices

by Michael Grothaus May 23rd 2011 at 6:45PM

The New York Times is reporting on a FreeWheel study [PDF] that says the majority of video views that happen on a mobile device occur on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. The iPhone and iPod touch account for a 30 percent share each, while the iPad accounts for a 20 percent share. About 19 percent of video views happen on an Android device with the remaining 1 percent happening on all other mobile devices.

Ever since Apple unveiled the original iPhone without Adobe Flash support, its competitors have been shouting that users were missing the "full internet." There were also plenty of people that said lack of Flash support would doom the iPhone since most mobile videos were in the Flash format. We now know, of course, that lack of Flash doesn't hinder video viewing on the iPhone in the slightest. Most videos on most major websites are encoded in multiple formats now -- all perhaps thanks to the iPhone not supporting Flash.

Matter of fact, FreeWheel asserts that Apple's dominance in mobile video views is due to the fact that its devices top the priorities of video publishers and mobile developers who encode and develop for Apple's iOS gear first and Android and other devices only after they have stable iOS offerings.



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The New York Times is reporting on a FreeWheel study [PDF] that says the majority of video views that happen on a mobile device occur on...
 

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Buzz

This figure would rise if more people had one of the Smoothees by Steadicam.

May 24 2011 at 4:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
R Johnson

Why has no one mentioned that IOS has had exclusivity on Hulu and Netflix for some time now?

Comparing using Android to watch YouTube clips and limited Flash video streams is skewed, because one can see the inverse relationship between Youtube vs Hulu/Netflix.

Furthermore, there is more to flash than just videos, namely the sites that contain flash elements to display dynamic data such as moving menus, animations, etc.

"TV networks like ABC and HBO have built applications for the iPad, as have pay TV operators like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision and others. "

Of COURSE if you have a dedicated app, one ONE platform, then that platform will have an inverse usage.

May 24 2011 at 1:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
spurv

"There were also plenty of people that said lack of Flash support would doom the iPhone since most mobile videos were in the Flash format."

Drop the "mobile" bit from that sentence, please.

May 23 2011 at 9:11 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
gshearman

From the article "We now know, of course, that lack of Flash doesn't hinder video viewing on the iPhone in the slightest."

Although there are a lot of sites where this isn't a problem, there are still some sites - including a lot of news sites here in Australia - where videos are presented as Flash only.

I personally wish that Flash was a separate app and if you needed to watch the app it would play in Flash player.

May 23 2011 at 8:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to gshearman's comment
TheBasicMind

Hate to sound like a Sheila, but that's because you're in Oz matey.

If you lived in a country where, instead of having beautiful beaches, surf and and chicks to keeping you out at night, your best friend was an iMac and youporn.com, then you would be more ahead of the technology curve.

May 23 2011 at 8:19 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Liquidmark

@TheBasicMind

If you spend your evenings at home watching porn on an iMac, why do you care about whether or not a mobile device can play flash video or not?

May 24 2011 at 9:18 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dave

Flash is on its death bed.

May 23 2011 at 8:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
xplora

30+20+19+1 = 70 ... where's the other 30% ?

May 23 2011 at 7:40 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to xplora's comment
xplora

nm, I miss-read the iphone/ipod are each, not shared.

May 23 2011 at 7:41 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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