Characterizing User Watching Behavior and Video Quality in Mobile Devices

Based on a large-scale dataset extracted from the servers' logs of PPTV, one of the largest online video service providers in China, we study how device types, wireless network connection types and video qualities impact user's watching behaviors and network traffic. We found that 1) the diurnal user viewing patterns on mobile devices are slightly different from that on PC devices; 2) the mobile APP's landing page is the primary source for users to find videos to watch, and the keyword search is the secondary source; 3) with respect to video quality, iOS devices are better than Android devices and tablet are better than smart phones; and 4) comparing to users with PC devices, users using mobile devices watch shorter, but are more concentrated on popular videos so that the video popularity distribution is more skewed. We further provide insights and suggestions in providing mobile video services and improving services' quality.