Over the last year, there's been a dramatic rise in mobile video consumption throughout the world—including in the US and Canada. And this appetite for mobile video doesn't seem likely to stop anytime soon, especially as more than a third of people surveyed in the US and Canada expect to consume even more video on their smartphones in the future. Particularly on Instagram, where 45% of people surveyed believe their consumption of mobile video will increase even more in the future as well.¹

Year over year, the time people spend watching video on Instagram is up more than 80%, while the number of videos produced per day on the platform has continued to increase by 4X each year.² With the emergence of innovative mobile video formats like Instagram Stories, marketers have more opportunities than ever before to connect with their audiences, whether on-the-go or in the moment.

To find out exactly where the future of mobile video is heading next, we teamed up with our in-house consumer and advertising insights team (Facebook IQ) to explore the ways mobile video consumption is changing the way we shop, share and stay connected.

While the dramatic rise in mobile video consumption is driven in part by a desire for on-the-go entertainment, there's something more to this versatile experience than just convenience. All over the globe, more and more Instagrammers are becoming increasingly drawn to mobile video because it connects them to an engaged community and offers them content that feels personal and relevant.

When compared to traditional TV, mobile video on Instagram is 2.9X more likely to help people feel connected to friends and family, and 1.9X more likely to give them something to talk about. In other words, it's a catalyst for connecting to the things that matter most. But not only is this interaction happening while people are out and about, but it's also occurring while they're at home as well. In fact, the home is the most common place where people watch mobile video.¹

And the way people feel when viewing video on mobile is playing a huge part in this experience.

While not surprising, people who view mobile video on Instagram associate it with a heightened sense of positive emotions—even feeling happy as a result. The same people surveyed also said that they were 2.4X more likely to feel inspired by mobile video on Instagram than TV, and 1.7X more likely to feel excited.¹

But it's not just the type of mobile video content found on Instagram that inspires these positive associations. It's where the content comes from as well that sparks such inspiration.

Australian fitness brand Kayla Itsines (@kayla_itsines) was looking to drive awareness for its new “Sweat” fitness app, but needed a little spot to help it reach its target audience of women aged 18-42 in the US. Partnering with the Facebook Creative Shop, Kayla Itsines was able to do just that.

Optimized for mobile, the brand created a full-funnel video campaign that ran across Facebook and Instagram around the simple message “Workout, anytime, anywhere.” Reaching a wide audience of 6.4 million people, the campaign generated an astounding 21-point lift in brand awareness with a 6X increase in higher brand reach (compared to global ecommerce market campaign norm). Not only did this show the power of using mobile video, but also how brands are able to do more with Facebook and Instagram.

Looking to drive in-store sales of its flagship product, Gatorade Thirst Quencher, innovative beverage brand Gatorade (@gatorade) joined forces with its partners at Facebook, media agency OMD and digital agency VML to create a powerful video ad made specifically for the Instagram and Facebook community.

Leveraging Custom Audiences on Instagram and Facebook, the mobile-first campaign focused its strategy around people aged 18+ and used striking visuals with heavy branding to capture the attention of its target audience. As a result, the Gatorade team was able to lift household penetration by 3.29% and short-term sales by 4.62% (measured by Oracle Data Cloud's ROI campaign analysis).

For its first creative advertising campaign on Instagram Stories, online fashion retailer ASOS (@asos) wanted to increase brand awareness and engagement in the US (and the UK) with its highly active audience of fashion-conscious teens.

By combining the high production values and style of a fashion shoot with mobile video, the mobile-first brand created a series of clever ads that were tailor made for its audience of young, digital natives. Rather than pushing sales messaging or specific products, the campaign focused on brand awareness and entertaining Instagrammers where they feel most at home, resulting in a 7-point increase in brand awareness in the US (and a 14-point lift in ad recall in the UK).

From the office to the home and beyond, an ever-increasing amount of people are watching videos on their mobile devices in a variety of locations and ways—presenting new possibilities for businesses on Instagram to share their story with the world.

To learn how your brand can maximize this rising trend of mobile video consumption, check out Facebook IQ for the full article.