Millions of Americans already watch a huge amount of video content on their mobile devices. But according to the findings and corresponding projections in a new study published Monday, we haven’t even scratched the surface of mobile video’s consumption potential.
By 2020, people will be watching seven hours of video each day versus 4.8 hours today, with a dramatic shift from broadcasting to on-demand video viewing. That estimate comes directly from new research from Bell Labs, which is the research arm of Alcatel-Lucent.
The projections also suggest a twelve times increase in internet video content as cloud services, news sites and social networking applications become more video based, and continuously accessible anywhere, anytime on tablets.
“Delivery of video from the cloud and from content delivery networks to tablets, TVs and smartphones – with guaranteed quality -, presents an exciting new revenue opportunity for communications service providers, but only if they are prepared to take advantage of it,” cautions Marcus Weldon, Chief Technology Officer at Alcatel-Lucent.
“Left unmanaged,” he adds, “the rapid growth in video traffic can turn into a deluge and spell disaster. It is important to look at where service providers’ investments can have the most impact, and this research makes clear that the IP edge of both wireline and wireless networks – which are increasingly becoming one and the same – offers the greatest opportunity to improve network performance. At the same time, it also presents the greatest source of risk if not managed appropriately.”
To review these and other findings in the report, click here.