Online video and audio consumption surged in the first half of 2013, according to the latest figures from Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen BDS.
The entertainment industry’s leading data information systems reported 50.9 billion video and audio streams in the first six months of the year, up 24% from 41 billion streams in the same period of 2012.
The battle for innovation in online audio is heating up with the release of Twitter Music, Google Play’s All Access music service, and Apple’s iTunes Radio set to debut this fall.
Pandora announced that its users logged 1.25 billion listening hours in June of this year, up 17% from 1.08 billion in June 2012. Its active listening audience increased 30% from 54.5 million to 71.1 million over the same period.
Mobile is surging
The trend is clear: Mobile device adoption is occurring at a blistering rate, and deeper penetration is being seen not only throughout the United States, but around the world as well. According to a new telephone survey from the Pew Internet & Life Project, 61 percent of all U.S. mobile subscribers now own smartphones.
Overall, tablet ownership has almost doubled in the past 14 months. In April 2012, only 18 percent of the general population owned tablet computers. This year, tablet sales are projected to surpass laptop sales. And by 2015, tablets are expected to eclipse the total sales of all personal computers.
With mobile technology playing a central role in the way consumers partake in a variety of activities, it’s no surprise that video engagement via a smartphone or tablet was up significantly during the first three months of 2013.
GlobalWebIndex’s “Stream Device Report-Q1 2013” stated 60 percent of mobile users and tablet owners listed watching a video clip as their most frequent type of mobile activity, according to eMarketer. Nearly three-quarters of computer users said the same, suggesting Internet video advertising and video ads on mobile have the potential to penetrate a major portion of U.S. consumers.
In addition, 48 percent of computer users, half of tablet owners and four in 10 consumers with smartphones used their platforms to watch a full-length film. At least one-quarter of each group streamed a full-length TV show live and roughly 40 percent of all viewers surveyed watched programming on-demand via the Internet on their device.
What the findings suggest for Christian online platforms
We are moving to an era of constant connectivity. We are always on; always connected on a variety of devices. For Christian publishers and content-makers whose mission is about connecting people with Jesus and one another, the future of Christian media is cross-platform, bringing people together for spiritual purposes through the devices, networks, and content format that they’ve become used to.