Four Screens Media

Forrester Research’s Jame McQuivey published a report confirming the video pie continues to grow with consumers going from 4 to 5 hours per day of video consumption.   How can we possibly have more time to watch video?  Simple, says McQuivey, OmniVideo.

OmniVideo is what it sounds like – video everywhere.  If we can watch video more readily on phones, mobile entertainment devices (if there will still be a difference between these last two, laptops, more IP driven screens in the home, the car, and other locations, we can consumer more video.  

But just because we can consumer more video, will we?  I think in large part that depends on programming.  The viewing experience need differs depending on the screen.  Web viewers love short funny videos or hard hitting news, mobile viewing habits are still forming but I suspect it will be similar to Web with time-addiction video thrown in – sports and news mostly. 

All this also means more opportunities to communicate directly to consumers.  When done properly, video is the best way to capture a consumers attention and keep it for more than a few seconds – be it branded premium content, a product placement or an overlay.  So more video on more video devices means more ways to reach consumers. 

And, let’s not forget, if the video pie keeps growing, maybe we can end the zero-sum/television death watch.