4 ms·

This feels more significant than I'd expect it to? We are dominated by reporting about how our phones are growing to define our interactions with media. To ha

by taeric 2y ago

This feels more significant than I'd expect it to? We are dominated by reporting about how our phones are growing to define our interactions with media. To have a trend that is bucking that is surprising.

hbn 2y ago
I wouldn't say this is a sign of declining mobile usage, but rather that people have YouTube videos playing constantly on the TV while they're scrolling around on their phone.
- newsclues 2y ago
  A declining use of cable! Could be people are switch from traditional TV to new content that is online. Or just phones are small screens and people have bad eyes and big TVs. It’s easy to send content from a phone or iPad to a tv these days. Demographics, and low friction technology. And there is good content on YouTube for anyone and everyone
- taeric 2y ago
  I took it less of a decline in mobile, but more indicative of how strong television still is?
notyourwork 2y ago
People still have televisions and now most come with embedded android and YouTube. I don’t find this surprising that people are leaving cable and using internet streaming for their “tv consumption”.
- typs 2y ago
  And people can watch short form content on their TV, so that counts in this too
xander158 2y ago
People still watch video on mobile, they just don’t use YouTube for it and probably use TikTok or Instagram for it.
nonethewiser 2y ago
Terrible headline - the article says nothing about users. It does not link to Youtubes finding that TV is overtaking mobile. That news is here, and it's by WATCH TIME, not user count as claimed. https://blog.youtube/inside-youtube/our-big-bets-for-2025/ https://blog.youtube/inside-youtube/our-big-bets-for-2025/ I think TV>Mobile for watch time is less surprising because of the nature of content you'd watch on the TV (longer form, background stuff). User count would be surprising. And this is from someone who primarily uses their TV for Youtube. - There are more mobile devices than TVs. A family of four may have 1 or 2 TVs but they have 4+ phones/tablets. Similarly, you need another phone to accomodate another viewer, whereas you do not need another TV. - TV accounts are often shared so even if you had multiple people using the TV there is a fair chance it would be squashed to 1 user - Youtube content is increasingly short form which fits better with mobile than sitting down on the couch. All Youtube shorts are designed to be consumed on the phone, for example. - You always have your phone with you. You're usually only around your TV a handful of hours a day. - You are often getting funneled to YouTube via a link from somewhere else on your phone. Reddit, X, group text, etc. No chance of that while using your TV for something else.
- taeric 2y ago
  Fair points. I'm still surprised at how strong television viewership remains, but my guess is that is poor priors on my part? Specifically to youtube, I am also a bit surprised at it being used heavily on televisions. It is not a pleasant experience there. I have a hard time on phone, but at least there the popup keyboard is a bit more usable. Granted, saying that, it occurs to me that i don't actually know the usage of youtube for videos. Short form content makes sense. You just keep flipping to the next of somewhat related content. I suppose news consumption is similar? We have turned news content into short form videos?
  - nonethewiser 2y ago
    Depends on the content. There is a lot of long form content but yeah shorts and other types of things ("how do I do xyz", etc.) is just not the type of thing I'm looking to watch on a TV.
  - deleted 2y ago
pjc50 2y ago
This is really just part of the switch from broadcast/cable to internet-native media. It's very noticeable when you watch terrestrial TV how many adverts are clearly targeted at the over-65s, the market is literally dying out.
- taeric 2y ago
  I only see television when I turn one on in hotels. But holy cow do these instances underline your point. Ads during news channels feel insane. At least ads on kids channels were largely for cereals. Which... also feels weird. Who needs advertising to care to eat Cheerios?

by taeric 2y ago

hbn 2y ago

I wouldn't say this is a sign of declining mobile usage, but rather that people have YouTube videos playing constantly on the TV while they're scrolling around on their phone.

newsclues 2y ago
A declining use of cable! Could be people are switch from traditional TV to new content that is online. Or just phones are small screens and people have bad eyes and big TVs. It’s easy to send content from a phone or iPad to a tv these days. Demographics, and low friction technology. And there is good content on YouTube for anyone and everyone
taeric 2y ago
I took it less of a decline in mobile, but more indicative of how strong television still is?

notyourwork 2y ago

People still have televisions and now most come with embedded android and YouTube. I don’t find this surprising that people are leaving cable and using internet streaming for their “tv consumption”.

typs 2y ago
And people can watch short form content on their TV, so that counts in this too

xander158 2y ago

People still watch video on mobile, they just don’t use YouTube for it and probably use TikTok or Instagram for it.

nonethewiser 2y ago

Terrible headline - the article says nothing about users. It does not link to Youtubes finding that TV is overtaking mobile. That news is here, and it's by WATCH TIME, not user count as claimed. https://blog.youtube/inside-youtube/our-big-bets-for-2025/ https://blog.youtube/inside-youtube/our-big-bets-for-2025/ I think TV>Mobile for watch time is less surprising because of the nature of content you'd watch on the TV (longer form, background stuff). User count would be surprising. And this is from someone who primarily uses their TV for Youtube. - There are more mobile devices than TVs. A family of four may have 1 or 2 TVs but they have 4+ phones/tablets. Similarly, you need another phone to accomodate another viewer, whereas you do not need another TV. - TV accounts are often shared so even if you had multiple people using the TV there is a fair chance it would be squashed to 1 user - Youtube content is increasingly short form which fits better with mobile than sitting down on the couch. All Youtube shorts are designed to be consumed on the phone, for example. - You always have your phone with you. You're usually only around your TV a handful of hours a day. - You are often getting funneled to YouTube via a link from somewhere else on your phone. Reddit, X, group text, etc. No chance of that while using your TV for something else.

taeric 2y ago
Fair points. I'm still surprised at how strong television viewership remains, but my guess is that is poor priors on my part? Specifically to youtube, I am also a bit surprised at it being used heavily on televisions. It is not a pleasant experience there. I have a hard time on phone, but at least there the popup keyboard is a bit more usable. Granted, saying that, it occurs to me that i don't actually know the usage of youtube for videos. Short form content makes sense. You just keep flipping to the next of somewhat related content. I suppose news consumption is similar? We have turned news content into short form videos?
- nonethewiser 2y ago
  Depends on the content. There is a lot of long form content but yeah shorts and other types of things ("how do I do xyz", etc.) is just not the type of thing I'm looking to watch on a TV.
- deleted 2y ago

pjc50 2y ago

This is really just part of the switch from broadcast/cable to internet-native media. It's very noticeable when you watch terrestrial TV how many adverts are clearly targeted at the over-65s, the market is literally dying out.

taeric 2y ago
I only see television when I turn one on in hotels. But holy cow do these instances underline your point. Ads during news channels feel insane. At least ads on kids channels were largely for cereals. Which... also feels weird. Who needs advertising to care to eat Cheerios?