Mobile TV and video viewers to hit 2 billion

Globally, some 2 billion mobile and tablet users will watch TV and video on these devices in 2017 according to a new report by Juniper Research.

The Mobile/Tablet TV & Video: Content, Broadcast & OTT Strategies 2013-2017 study found that in 2017 the Western European market will account for over a fifth of these mobile and tablet viewers, at more than 430 million people.

The report says that the success of online and multi-screen services like Netflix has begun to affect the pay-TV business, with the threat of consumers ‘cutting the cord’ resulting in many pay-TV providers, such as Sky in the UK, fighting back with multi-platform strategies of their own.

“We are now seeing companies such as YouTube trialling paid channels to get a slice of the marketplace. This will have incredible repercussions throughout the mobile space given YouTube comes preinstalled on an immense number of devices and the Android platform’s billing options,” said report author and Juniper analyst Sian Rowlands.