Video on Tablets Takes Off

According to a comScore report, tablets have quickly reached a critical mass in the United States with one in every four smartphone owners using tablets during the three-month average period ending April 2012. The study also indicated that tablet users were nearly three times more likely to watch video on their device compared to smartphone users, with one in every 10 tablet users viewing video content almost daily on the device.In the two years since the launch of the iPad, tablet adoption has exploded, fueled by the introduction of new devices that appeal to various price and feature preferences. In April 2012, 16.5% of mobile phone subscribers used a tablet, representing an increase of 11.8 percentage points in the past year. Growth in market penetration was even more apparent among the smartphone population with nearly one in four using a tablet device in April, an increase of 13.9 percentage points in the past year. A lower 10.4% of feature phone owners use a tablet, suggesting that smartphone ownership is highly predictive of tablet adoption in the current market.More than half of tablet users watched video and/or TV content on their device in April 2012, compared to just 20% of the smartphone audience, with larger screen sizes making tablets more conducive to video consumption than their smaller-screen cousins. Not only were tablet users more likely to watch video, but they were also more likely to view video habitually, with 18.9% of tablet users watching video content at least once a week and 9.5% watching video nearly every day on their device. Of those viewing video at least once during the month, 26.7% paid to watch content.