Facebook video is likely to overtake Google-owned YouTube, according to the latest findings from Mobile Video Index (MVI) prepared by Openwave Mobility.

The report said Facebook video on the social media network is rapidly closing the gap in some telecom markets – and has overtaken YouTube in others. YouTube remains the most popular for mobile video, according to Openwave Mobility, a provider of mobile video traffic management solutions.

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The second edition of the MVI, a regular analysis of traffic data, is aggregated from live deployments in over 30 mobile operators.

Facebook video is now trending upward relative to YouTube in most developed markets. Facebook video has already overtaken YouTube in a number of emerging markets. Facebook is executing a direct and credible assault on YouTube.

“The MVI also found that while video playback times on mobile are increasing, average playback buffer time remains high at 7.2 seconds. Subscribers will only put up with 6 seconds of buffering before abandoning a video in frustration.

For subscribers, every second counts and consumers blame their operators – not OTTs – when they suffer poor Quality of Experience (QoE),” Indranil Chatterjee, SVP of Products, Sales & Marketing at Openwave Mobility, said.

“Inspired by operators such as T-Mobile in the US, research shows that zero-rating and unlimited data plans significantly increase video engagement time.

“With the right traffic management techniques, operators can contain network costs and launch viable pricing models and deliver a differentiated QoE,” Gorkem Yigit, lead analyst at Analysys Mason, who examined video monetization strategies for this edition of the MVI, said.

Subscriber are willing to pay for good QoE. Consumers in Europe are happy to pay an extra €7.50 per month for videos with less than two seconds of buffering. Operators can ill-afford to ignore the monetization opportunities staring them in the face.