A quarter of ANZ mobile users would pay extra for 5G - report

Venture Insights' latest survey on consumer behaviour and future intentions of Australians and New Zealanders has found that 25% of respondents say they would pay extra for a 5G service that gives them a better video experience.

Similar numbers say they would move mobile providers to get the sports content they wanted. This is significantly higher than 2021, when 17% of Australians and 12% of New Zealanders said this. Venture Insights says this suggests that awareness of the benefits of 5G is growing.

The survey reveals that 72% of Australians and 31% of New Zealanders now watch videos on mobile devices at least sometimes, and 32% of Australians and 31% of New Zealanders do so daily.

Venture Insights says this underlines the importance of mobile as a channel for content providers, who need to address mobile in distribution and marketing strategies to maintain viewer share.

Venture Insights managing director David Kennedy says he was expecting the pandemic and working from home to drive a decline in people watching video streaming services on phones.

"People working from home are more likely to use a TV set or another screen to watch videos. But our survey results for 2020 to 2022 show that the broad upward trends in mobile video viewing and games have been undisturbed by the pandemic," he says.

Although Australia and New Zealand started from similar positions in 2020, the survey data suggests that mobile video is growing faster in New Zealand than in Australia.

The report also found that age was by far the strongest determinant of whether respondents used video on their phones. As expected, younger mobile users were more likely to watch mobile video, with penetrations dropping off in the 55+ age groups.

"Older viewers are a relatively untapped market, particularly in Australia where mobile users 55+ in age were significantly less likely to watch mobile video than their New Zealand counterparts," says Kennedy.

"While we doubt participation of older viewers will ever fully match that of younger cohorts, there is scope here for both content providers and telcos to promote more engagement.

The survey found that 60% of respondents in Australia and 54% in New Zealand now use their mobile phones for games. As expected, older respondents were less like to play mobile games. The age pattern was similar in Australia and New Zealand.

Venture Insights says there is also scope to boost engagement in older cohorts, but there needs to be more effort in providing puzzles and similar games that attract this demographic.