Two-thirds of the worlds mobile data traffic will be video by 2016, says Cisco report

From Nyan Cat to Netflix, we’re not adverse to checking out stupid memes or the latest star studded blockbuster on our phones and neither are the rest of you it seems. Last year 52 per cent of all total data traffic was mobile video traffic, according to a report from Cicso Systems.

This and other figures has led Cisco to predict that two thirds of the world’s global data traffic will be driven by requests for video content by 2016.

Currently, Cisco says that smartphones, i.e. phones like the Apple iPhone 4S, Samsung Galaxy S2, HTC Sensation etc, that have ready access to video streaming services, make up only 12 per cent of the total global market.

But this 12 per cent accounts for a massive 82 per cent of all video traffic. With the number of active mobile-connected devices expected to exceed the total world population this year, it’s perhaps easier to see the 2016 prediction coming true.

Tablets will also play a role in driving mobile video consumption. Last year, the number of connected tablets tripled to 34 million across the world, and each tablet generated over three times more traffic than the average smartphone. Again, not much of a stretch to imagine given that tablets are optimised for web-surfing, whereas phones are primarily optimised for making calls.  

10.1-inch multi-core video gobbling tablets 

 

Last year we saw a raft of dual-core tablets touting 1080p video playback hitting the shelves along with video on-demand services (HTC Watch on the HTC Flyer) coming built in to tablets.

Though generally these tablets haven’t matched the sales of Apple’s iPads, we’ve seen the likes of the BlackBerry PlayBook and HTC Flyer take price cuts recently. Plus, Amazon’s Kindle Fire still hasn’t launched in the UK, which would no doubt increase the appetite for mobile video. We’ve still yet to see nationwide rollout of 4G/LTE in the UK which will allow for super-fast streaming of high definition video on a whole new generations of devices.

In the US, we’ve seen the LG Spectrum, which comes with the ESPN Score Centre app that’s a portal to HD sports video content; a sign of things to come no doubt.

Until we get superfast 4G coverage everywhere, we’ll be content with the BBC iPlayer, YouTube rentals and Jeremy Kyle on our phones and Sky Go, which is hitting Android phones next week.