The results of the third quarter 2013 Global Video Insights study from Vuclip suggests what for many might well be the exact opposite of what would be expected. The counter-intuitive takeaway from said study is that, for much of the world, people would rather watch entire television shows, or even movies at full feature length than short-form content on mobile devices. But while what customers want is quite clear, what customers are concerned about in the process is just as clear, if a bit difficult to address.

The numbers tell a story that's full of unexpected twists. The study in question covered over 50,000 mobile video viewers worldwide, and of these, fully 65 percent of same preferred the long-form content over music videos or video clips. Within this majority, 67 percent of men favored the long-form content, and 57 percent of women joined in the assent. The responses were even more pointed when age became a consideration; for those under the age of 18, fully 74 percent favored the long-form as well. Indeed, for 84 percent of respondents, if a preferred television series could be had on a mobile device, then that would be where said series would be watched. The numbers for movies, meanwhile, were even higher, with 89 percent saying that a favorite movie, if available, would be watched on a mobile device, and when the numbers switch to the under-18 bracket again, that number goes up to near-totality at 94 percent.

That by itself may prove staggering to some, but the concerns registered by these mobile users will, in all likelihood, not. The top concerns registered by the surveyed mobile users included just plain finding content at 10 percent, issues of buffering which came in at 21 percent, and the biggest of all, issues of cost, which were top of the heap for fully 32 percent of respondents. Interestingly, the distributions of concerns in mobile seemed fairly static throughout the world, though in the United States, where unlimited data plans are beginning to fall by the wayside, issues of cost are coming up short against issues of buffering.

What users are looking for is also somewhat unusual. In the United States, users are primarily searching for celebrities on mobile devices, with one particularly interesting sidebar as the third biggest search was for “pranks.” By way of comparison, in India, users are searching mainly movie titles, looking for places to watch titles, though other things like celebrities—both the United States and India found “Shakira” in the top 10 searches—as well as news and astrology. In Indonesia, meanwhile, the top 10 topics distribution was fairly evenly split between celebrities, bands, and movies.

Of course, issues of overall infrastructure likely come into play here, as do comparative wealth and the like. But one thing is clear; for more people, and in more places, than some may suspect, turning to the small screen for television and movies is an affair regularly engaged in, and entertainment companies that take advantage of that movement might well find rewards to be had in increased audience engagement and accompanying interaction. While there are many issues that go into such responses to the question of where viewers watch movies and television shows, going where the viewers are is seldom a bad idea.