There are few forces in the world of mobile video as prominent and dominant as YouTube, the popular video sharing platform.
Citing data gleaned from its second-quarter 2010 Mobile Minute Metrics report, Bytemobile, Inc. today released its second-quarter 2010 Mobile Minute Metrics report. The findings for mobile video and the role played by YouTube are particularly telling.
According to the report, YouTube accounts for 36% of the total video traffic on wireless networks worldwide. Adult content and ‘long tail’ internet content account for the rest.
Earlier in July, the Google-owned video service announced that YouTube consumption on mobile devices has ballooned exponentially, with a 160% increase in 2009 over 2008.
Mobile video playbacks now exceed 100 million per day.
Not surprisingly, however, high-definition video accounts for a scant 0.07 percent of video-specific traffic volume, with mobile users preferring lower-quality videos to avoid stalling and to enjoy a better media experience.
Bytemobile also reports that mobile video consumption is highest around 10:00 p.m., “at which point networks experience the most congestion and users experience the most video stalling.”
“The mobile data industry is experiencing tremendous growth, with video as the key driver,” said Joel Brand, vice president of Product Management at Bytemobile. “While operators are enjoying revenue growth from data subscriptions, they are also experiencing rapid escalation of traffic, which is outpacing available network capacity and adversely affecting quality of service.”