Impact of Mobile and Tablet Usage on Web Video Experiences

Editor's Notes

• #2: \n
• #3: I’d like to begin the presentation by first taking a look at how important video is in our lives. According to a recently study by Nielsen on The State of the Media: Cross Platform Report Q3 2011, Americans are spending more than 33 hours per week watching video. \n
• #4: Something has significantly changes since the birth of the Internet. People no longer equate video to something you watch on your TV sets. Now video can be viewed on all kinds of devices, most notably on your mobile phones and tablets. \n
• #5: It is also important to take a note of how much of video consumption is done via terrestrial/satellite/cable vs. the Internet. In the same study by Nielsen, 79.5% of Americans consume video via the Internet. This is staggering data considering the relatively young age of the Internet versus television. \n
• #6: Out of those videos being consumed on the Internet, not all videos are watched from your desktop workstations or laptops. Many people now watch video from their mobile phones and tablets. \n
• #7: As a matter of fact, according to the Nielsen study, from Q3 2008 to Q3 2011, the number of Americans watching video on mobile phone grew by a staggering 205.7 % within just 3 years. This data is a great indicator that more and more people rely on using mobile and tablet devices to access information and are moving away from using computers. \n
• #8: Apple’s new CEO Tim Cook recently commented that tables will take over PC sales by end of 2012. Many experts seem to agree based on the fact that iPad is the fastest-selling Apple product to date. Apple has sold a whopping 67 million iPads since the original tablet’s release two years ago. By comparison, it took 24 years for Macs, 5 years for iPods, and 3 years for iPhones to reach the same number (67 million units) in sales. \n
• #9: That does not mean that iPhone sales are falling behind. Actually not at all. During the first three months of 2012, Apple has already sold over 35 million iPhones, while iPad sold close to 12 million. \n
• #10: The growth of mobile and tablet usage cannot be ignored, and this trend is rapidly changing the landscape of web design including how videos are experienced on these devices. \n
• #11: So, what does this really mean for us? For companies who produce many videos on their website to showcase its products and services? What are the changes we need to make? \n
• #12: I would like to first envision how videos will be created for the Web and users will experience these videos in the future, which are outlined above. \n
• #13: In simple, my belief is that gone are the days of all the fancy videos that has crazy objects flying around. I am not suggesting that fancy videos will completely disappear, but for most videos being created on the Internet, producers must make them simple and easy for viewing at any size. Hence, “Forget the fancy. Think practical.” \n
• #14: The good news is that there is help out there. Unless producers are well versed in sophisticated NLE applications such as Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, or Avid Media Composer, I highly recommend taking a look at Apple’s iMovie. It is a powerful yet easy-to-use video editing suite. It is truly designed for users of all levels with mobile content production in mind. \n
• #15: iMovie offers various title templates that are pre-defined to use. The titles are appropriately sized for optimal viewing experience even on small devices such as iPhones. By using these built-in titles you can eliminate the worry whether your message can be viewed by mobile users or not. \n
• #16: Another great tip that iMovie offers is at the end of video production cycle before exporting the video. iMovie gives clear instructions on what devices will be most compatible for the selected video size. This is especially great if producers are not familiar with various video resolutions. \n
• #17: Let me start out by showing an example of how not to create video for the Web. Shown here is a high school football game video archive. The problem here is that while computer users can fully experience the video by seeing the scores and stats outside the video screen, users on mobile phones completely miss out this information as the scores are not contained as part of the video. \n
• #18: On the other hand, let’s take a look at this video from Saddleback Church. This is an example that facilitates an excellent video experience on multiple device. While users viewing the service from their computers can take advantage of additional features such as Live Chat and Outline, users on mobile and tablet devices can still fully experience the live message as the lyrics, bible scripture and other data are included within the video. \n
• #19: In conclusion, I highly suggest that users start producing video tutorials and demo reels that are specifically optimized for mobile and tablet viewing experience. We should also consider converting some of our existing videos and enlarge titles in order to optimize the viewing experience on mobile phones. \n
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