China / Society

Mobile devices have changed the way people watch video programs

(chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2015-12-17 16:44

Mobile devices have changed the way how films and television programs are created and presented in front of the audience, said Chris D. Nebe, CEO of Monarex Hollywood and director of "Mysterious China" at a sub forum in Wuzhen on Thursday.

Taking the documentary "Mysterious China" as an example, he said people have trouble watching documentary on mobile phones if it is more than 10 minutes, which requires them to shorten the length of the program.

Portable video devices show its evident features and filmmakers need to take them into consideration when planning and making the films, he said.

Gong Yu, founder and CEO of iqiyi.com, one of China's biggest video stream website, thinks mobile devices influence filmmaking when they create their exclusive shows.

He said the viewers of mobile phones are more focused if they are holding their phones to watch videos, which means they can understand the story line quicker than when watching TV with friends at a dinner table.

In addition, viewers can pull the progress bar as they wish when they watch videos online which means they can go back if they miss something, Gong said quoting research on users' behaviors.

The website takes the changes into consideration as they start speeding up the progress in the plots.

Reed Hastings, CEO of Neflix Inc, said the key to win audience is telling good stories and good content as Internet makes more good business models possible.

The users love to pay fees for programs and shows as long as the contents are good, he said.

Until the end of 2014, there're 5.2 billion mobile phone users around the world and its popularizing rate reaches to 73 percent, according to Wang Xiaohui, vice chief of China National Radio at the sub forum in Wuzhen.

In China, 354 million people are internet video users with the average 9.9 hours for watching videos online.