ExchangeWire Research’s weekly roundup brings you up-to-date research findings from around the world, with additional insight provided by Rebecca Muir, head of research and analysis, ExchangeWire. In this week’s edition: Mobile driving online video views; Exercising your GDPR rights; and The decline of the emoji.

Mobile driving online video views 

Mobile devices will help boost online video viewing by 20% in 2017, according to Zenith’s Online Video Forecasts 2017 report. In the UK, this rise will be 11%.

Global consumers will spend an average of 47.4 minutes a day viewing videos online this year, up from 39.6 minutes in 2016. This increase will be driven by a 35% increase in viewing on mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) to 28.8 minutes a day, while viewing on fixed devices (desktop PCs, laptops, and smart TVs) will rise by just 2% to 18.6 minutes a day.

In the UK, consumers will watch an average of 53.3 minutes a day of online video, rising from 47.9 last year. Viewing on mobile devices will nearly double, rising from 10.9 to 20.3 minutes. The report predicts that 2017 will be the peak year of fixed-device video, which global consumers will spend an average of 19 minutes a day viewing. Meanwhile mobile video viewing – averaging 29 minutes a day this year – will grow 25% in 2018 and 29% in 2019, driven by the spread of mobile devices, improved displays, and faster mobile data connections.

The report predicts that global expenditure on online video advertising will grow 23% in 2017 to USD$27.2bn (£21bn). In the UK, we predict a rise to £1.7bn (USD$2.2bn) from £1.1bn (USD$1.4bn) in 2016.

Exercising your GDPR rights

Social media companies are the least-trusted organisations in the UK, when it comes to data protection, according to research by SAS.

With that in mind, over a third of UK consumers (39%) are planning to remove their personal data from social media, once new data laws coming into play in 2018. This skepticism lies heavily with older generations, as almost half (49%) of those aged 55 years and older will exercise their new rights to have data erased, supported by the GDPR.

On the other hand, 80% of 18 to 24 year-olds are happy with social sites using their data for marketing purposes, in the hope for more personalised services and better deals. These figures outline a clear shift in younger consumers’ attitudes to sharing data online and with brands and companies.

With the GDPR looming ever-larger, over a quarter (26%) of respondents will exercise their right to access data from social media companies. Nearly four-in-10 (38%) will ask social media companies to stop using their data for marketing purposes, with only 6% willing to allow organisations to access their social media activity in return for a more preferential service or discounts.

The decline of the emoji

Emojis appear to have lost the momentum which made them such an effective marketing tactic in 2016, finds research by Mailjet. This, despite Monday 17^th July being 'World Emoji Day', and the upcoming release of ‘The Emoji Movie’.

The research found open rates in the UK and the US only rose by 5% and 6%, respectively, this year when emojis accompanied the subject line. By comparison, last year Brits were 63% more likely to open an email when the choice of emoji juxtaposed the tone of the email subject line to indicate sarcasm. In the instance of using a crying emoji to accompany the subject line 'Do your emails look this good?' open rates surged by as much as 95%.

Brits are now 33% less likely to open a message using the crying emoji than an email without it. This type of emoji, despite being last year’s most popular icon, saw a global net decrease in open rate of 8% in 2017.