• by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, February 18, 2016

Ready for the mobile gold rush? Of course you are. Though truth be told, the pending growth in mobile video may be more like an avalanche.

Cisco’s newest report predicts massive upticks in the mobile video sector in the next few years.

By 2020, over 75% of global mobile data traffic will be comprised of video, said Cisco. That’s an increase from 55% of mobile traffic last year. What’s even more impressive is the volume of video that will flow across phones in that time period. That rise in traffic equates to an eleven times increase in the amount of video during that time period.

Also, within five years there will be 1.5 mobile devices per capita worldwide, or about 11.6 million mobile devices in use by 2020. The world’s population will be about 7.8 billion at that time, Cisco said.

As mobile usage swells worldwide, so will ad dollars. Overall, mobile ad revenue is on track to increase by an annual compound growth rate of 26.5% through 2020, with U.S. digital video ad revenue growing at 21.9% through that same time frame, according to BI Intelligence figures.

What these figures mean is that it’s wise for marketers to shore up their mobile video marketing strategies now. Brands should make sure they know how their consumers respond to mobile video, the kind they like best, and how to integrate with other marketing, for starters. To be sure, some of the massive growth in video will come from videos consumers make themselves of their dogs or baby’s first steps, for instance. But the more they create their own videos, the more apt they are to watch, interact with and respond to videos from brands.

Phones are also becoming key focal points for buying. By 2017, more than half of U.S. digital consumers will use a phone to make a purchase, according to eMarketer. The firm predicts than 95.1 million Americans ages 14 and older -- representing a little more than half of digital buyers -- will hit “buy” on their phones this year.