A couple months ago we asked: What are youth watching on their phones? Avot Media, a video streaming service, recently sent us the youth results from of a Mobile Video Study that sheds some more light on content and delivery preferences, as well as current barriers to adoption.

The study was intended to “uncover the interests and concerns of mobile device users in regards to mobile media” (read: field test their product.) Avot Media’s video solution lets users play web video in near real-time on any web-enabled handset. In its survey, they asked about 400 users to give it a spin and answer ten questions.

The Good

• Fifty-five percent of users under 29 said they would use the simple “send SMS for video” model to request content they were interested in.
• Thirty-six percent would watch movie trailers, 32 percent would watch American Idol performances, and 31 percent would watch instructional “how to” videos.
• Regarding ease of use: 95 percent said that the process was easy, 89 percent said start-up time was medium-fast to fast, and 71 percent rated video image quality clear to crystal clear.

The Bad

• Though 75 percent of users were able to watch the video successfully, several concerns were reported. Users identified outdated phone models, limited phone/carrier support, user error, and poor coverage as challenges.

The Ugly

• In addition to the bad, 32 percent of users expressed concerns with image quality, 33 percent with download time, and another 33 percent with freezing/stuttering issues.

While young people don’t mind watching video on a small screen–it’s a non-issue–they have very high standards for speed and quality. The problem with mobile is all the devices and networks that content delivery services must provision for. It’s a drag. But these results are promising–much more positive than we would have expected. Of course, we take them with a grain of salt, but we look forward to faster and better mobile video experiences.

- Ed Felix