The video streaming industry will substantially grow in Japan in the upcoming years according to industry forecasts. Anime content available in popular Japanese VoD platforms will partly drive this increase and mobile operators like au or NTT docomo emerge as important partners for streaming VoD services. Smartphones are the most popular device among Japanese users to watch online videos, especially during busy commuting hours — and video apps like TVer and TikTok, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, ABEMA, and Netflix are some of the most downloaded apps in Japanese for Apple devices.
In this new analysis, Opensignal looks at our Japanese users’ mobile experience on the latest smartphone devices, when they are watching videos e.g. on social media sites, on-demand online TV shows, movies, or any type of pre-recorded video. In this analysis, we have examined 5G capable devices released on the market in 2023 and 2024, to assess whether the newer device may boost our users' experience.
Key findings
- Our users on the newest 5G devices enjoy a much better mobile experience than those on older devices that are not capable of 5G connectivity.
- Au leads for 5G Video Experience.
Device mix can impact the overall experience on mobile operators’ networks—our analysis shows that across several metrics. Upgrading from older 4G-only devices (released before 2023) to newer 5G devices results in significantly faster average speeds. Our Japanese users on the most modern 5G devices enjoy 4.1 times faster download speeds and 1.7 times faster upload speeds than those using older 4G devices.
Several factors can significantly impact the final results of 5G Video Experience — such as device mix, device settings, and operators’ efforts to balance battery life, data consumption, and video performance. One of the components used for calculating Opensignal Video Experience metrics is Time to First frame, which reflects the initial delay of the video playback on the user’s device i.e. how long a video takes to start playing.
Our analysis shows that our users on 5G devices in Japan released in 2023 and 2024 observed a substantially shorter initial delay when connected to 5G services — 2.9 seconds. Those users who stick to older devices (released before 2023) observed a substantially higher value of Time to First Frame — 4.7 seconds. This means they have to wait for nearly two more seconds for their videos to load, compared to 5G users on the latest devices.
Stalling time is another component that Opensignal considers for assessing the quality of the video experience of our users. This refers to the amount of time the video playback is interrupted during a test, while further video segments are loaded in the buffer.
Those on older 4G devices observe the stalling time of nearly 500 milliseconds — which is 7.3 times higher than in the case of those Japanese users who connect to 5G services on their 5G devices. Higher stalling times mean longer buffering and pauses when playing videos on users’ smartphones.
Looking at 5G Video Experience metric, au is in first place for 5G Video Experience, beating SoftBank by one point, while Rakuten Mobile and NTT docomo are in a statistical tie for third place. Regardless of their choice of operator, our Japanese users enjoy Very Good (68-78) video services when using the latest 5G smartphones — although au is only 0.5 points short of the Excellent (78 or above) category. A Very Good rating means our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
5G Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users' real video experience including video streams up to 4K quality.
Mobile users with the latest, modern models of smartphones can benefit from faster processors, and bigger screens with higher refresh rates, which enhances the device performance when watching videos on streaming services. Advanced connectivity features, like the capability to connect to more spectrum bands (e.g. mmWave), the latest iterations of Wi-Fi standards or the latest modem and antenna designs also improve the overall user experience of video consumption with faster speeds and lower latency — not to mention that newer smartphones may use AI to optimize performance or battery usage.
For further insights and a deeper analysis of the impact of spectrum on mobile network experience, subscribe to Opensignal’s newsletter. To learn how mobile operators in Japan perform across key metrics, read our latest Mobile Network Experience report on Japan. if you would like to compare how Japan fares against other countries in the region, read this article.
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