Mobile video is increasing dominance. Ericsson released a report just before the Mobile World Congress, where they evaluated the impact of network performance on content providers and mobile network operators. In the survey, Ericsson used neuroscience parameters like pulse rates and eye movements. It was observed that delays in video streaming lead to increase in heart rates by 38%, while a 6 second delay caused stress levels to increase by a third. Ericsson says that this stress is equitable to watching a horror movie. This is particularly harmful for brands, in terms of engagement.
The report mentioned, “A medium delay of 2 seconds when loading videos led to average stress levels to go from 13 percent to 16 percent above the baseline. Once a video started to stream, a pause due to re-buffering caused stress levels to further increase by 15 percentage points. With high time-to-content delays of 6 seconds, half of the participants exhibited a 19 percent increase relative to baseline levels while the other half exhibited signs of resignation—their eye movements indicated distraction and stress levels dropped.”
Source: Streaming Media
