Starcom Report: 8 in 10 Romanians watch online videos for relaxation

Today, 5 billion videos are viewed on YouTube daily, while every minute 300 hours of video are uploaded on this platform.

While the digital marketing is evolving there will continue to be trends in the industry that are favoring the video content. In this context, Starcom Romania published a report regarding the video consumption habits of Romanian.

The data was collected in the second part of last year and today the agency launches the results of the research, alongside some relevant statistics.

The Romanian users are viewing online video clips almost in the same proportion on the computer laptop (83 percent), and the mobile phone (73 percent). The TV seems to be more and more connected to the online (29 percent).

The statistics show that 8 in 10 Romanians are viewing online videos for relaxation. More than half of them are doing it from the need to learn something new and for inspiration. Others, in order to find out more pieces of information on how to resolve a certain situation (45 percent). The space in which they sit in front of the laptop or the mobile phone varies from the living room or the bedroom at home (7 in 10 respondents), up to the work/school or the public transportation (4 in 10 respondents).

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YouTube (95 percent) and Facebook (78 percent) are the main video online content platforms. On YouTube, the users prefer to view the clips with a duration between 1-5 minutes or 5-10 minutes. Once we enter the social networks the preference of watching period of time drops, due to the fact that they are less informative and with a bigger personal content (pictures, comments). On Facebook, the preferred categories are videos between 1-5 minutes, while on Instagram and Twitter, the ones with a duration up to one minute.

The main types of online content viewed on YouTube are the musical video clips (85 percent), the funny videos (65 percent) and the entertainment ones (music, dance, games – 50 percent). The video clips on YouTube can be a strong tool in the choosing process of some products and services, in the developing of the professional abilities, of some new visiting places and on the developing of general knowledge.

The same relaxing and entertainment content is found also on Facebook when we are thinking about the most viewed video clips – funny (69 percent), music (57 percent) and entertainment (46 percent). The video content on Facebook represents, at the same time, a source of information while it regards the trips or the vacations, new pieces of news, having a big capacity of spreading the information fast. A differentiating element towards the other platforms are the Live videos – 4 din 10 Romanians follow this type of online content.

On Instagram, depending on their interests, the Romanians have different preferences. In their top are, once again, the funny clips and the ones about trips/vacations (43 percent). On this platform it can be observed a smaller affinity towards the video clips with news, compared to the ones on Facebook and YouTube.

35 percent of Romanians that are watching video online create small videos. Most of them post this content occasionally, less than once a month (19 percent).

Facebook is the main platform where Romanians are uploading video clips (65 percent). Even is the main channel on which they watch video, YouTube is ranked after Facebook (40 percent).

YouTube (84 percent) and Facebook (70 percent) are the main platforms mentioned by the respondents, where they are watching video commercials. On YouTube and Twitter, the most memorable video commercials are the ones shown at the beginning of a clip and the message line shown over the video clip. On Facebook and Instagram, alongside the video commercials at the beginning of the clips, Romanians remember also the videos included in the posts shown on these socializing networks. The video commercials posted by Influencers become easier to be memorized on Instagram and Twitter.

On mobile, most of the videos are viewed through apps (30 percent). Romanians are watching on mobile the musical video clips (74 percent), the funny clips (55 percent) and the entertainment ones (38 percent). Among them there are also the presentation videos of some products, most probably watched in order to find out information and to help in the purchase decision process.

Most of Romanians are watching video clips of 5-10 minutes on mobile and the hours in the day when is consumed the most video content are between 17:00 and 22:00. Users prefer to watch videos in the bedroom home (58 percent) and the living room (50 percent), while a third are viewing it in the public transport (33 percent).

The platforms of Video on Demand (systems or platform that allow the users to view video and audio content when they want, for a monthly subscription) are used by only a third of those that are watching video clips online. Out of those, the most are accessing it at least once a week.

Most Romanians would want to have dedicated VOD platforms for movies VOD (71 percent), documentaries (43 percent), music and concerts (38 percent). 8 din 10 Romanians want to benefit from the VOD platforms for free. The ones that are willing to pay wouldn’t spend more than RON 15 for accessing those platforms.

Romanita Oprea