Report: Mobile Video Consumption Is On The Rise, But Few Pay For It

imageThe number of people watching TV over the phone is increasing rapidly, according to a report released by Nielsen. What’s more is of the people who watch TV on the phone, they are tuning in for more hours a month than people online — but most of the people are watching for free, rather than paying a pricey monthly subscription.

Nielsen said in the first quarter, the number of people watching TV on a mobile phone totaled 13.4 million, increasing 20 percent over the previous quarter, and 52.2 percent compared to the year ago period. That compares to relatively flat growth for watching video on the internet and in the home. While there’s fewer people watching mobile TV than over the Internet, people watch an average of 3 hours and 37 minutes a month on the phone, or roughly a half-hour longer than Internet watchers. A full set of numbers, and more analysis, after the jump.

While the numbers show hope that people are increasingly interested in watching mobile TV, it is also clear that they generally don’t want to pay for it. In a separate Nielsen report issued yesterday, the research firm found that the most popular means of consumption was over the mobile web. In the first quarter, only 40 percent of viewers watched via a subscription, compared to 65 percent of people who watched video over the mobile Web. (Note: Some people both watched using a subscription and over the web).

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Photo Credit: Flickr/jamescridland

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