Mobile video was the rising star of 2014. For many youngsters, their mobile phone has become the preferred screen for watching videos.

This year, we saw some insane videos going viral: the ASL Ice Bucket Challenge, Ranveer Singh’s #BangBang dare, Tatia Pilieva’s First Kiss and the various spoof videos which spread like wildfire on social media.

To sum up the year, we chatted with a curator of our favorite videos. Nickhil Jakatdar, CEO of the mobile-video site Vuclip, gave us first-hand insights about Indian’s love for Bollywood and the experience generation that’s fuelling this trend.

2014 was the year of mobile videos in India. Why do you think they are becoming so popular?

Mobile screens are becoming the preferred method of consuming entertainment in the emerging markets. Vuclip’s recent Global Video Insights survey revealed that 74% of Indians are watching their favorite videos, TV shows and movies on their mobile devices. The majority of respondents are willing to pay for their favorite content, and mobile viewing is only set to get bigger. 84% of respondents from India said they will increase time spent watching mobile videos in future.

People are preferring mobile video for a few reasons, such as the personal nature of mobile devices, the ability to access content anytime, anywhere, and the ease of staying connected on social networks.

What are Indians watching on their mobile devices?

Overall, Vuclip’s survey showed that Bollywood, sports and music videos are popular in India. The popularity of TV shows and long-form movies is also increasing rapidly.

There are spikes based on trending topics at any given time. This summer, Indians watched trends as varied as horror movie trailers, a tiger attack at the Delhi Zoo and devotional content inspired by all the festivals being celebrated across the country.

Their searches were interesting, too. At Vuclip, we saw Indians search for things like Mary Kom, Alia Bhatt, Salman Khan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech and classic YRF songs.

How do you plan to reach out to new users in India?

We want to keep expanding our large premium content library in line with viewers’ preferences. Vuclip, to date, partnered with 160 of the top global studios to obtain content in more than 20 languages.

The resounding success of Airtel’s Re. 1 video platform proved that easy pricing and convenient packaging worked well to bring a lot of people their first mobile video experiences. So, Vuclip will introduce new products and models to offer affordable long-form and short-form premium content, along with extremely convenient payment methods.

Moving ahead, we’re excited to expand the mobile ecosystem and help our partners reap the benefits of the mobile platform. Vuclip strives to have deep engagements with content partners, mobile operators, manufacturers and mobile browsers, and we’re working to establish more such relationships.

What do you think will happen in 2015?

Mobile video is where all the action is, in commerce, entertainment or governance. In India, the mobile web will be a catalyst for the country’s digital transformation. From the content perspective specifically, long-form, regional, hyper-local content will see a lot of traction. And, we’ll start seeing made-for-mobile content targeted specifically towards young people.

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