Report: Streaming Video Consumption Up 72%
April 30, 2019
More people globally are streaming video for their entertainment. New data from Conviva found year-over-year viewership grew 72% and the rate of consumption growth increased by 49% in the first quarter (ended March 31) compared to the previous-year period.
The streaming TV analytics company monitors a trillion real-time transactions per day via 3 billion applications streaming on devices in 180 countries.
In United States, online TV services continue to grow in popularity. Services such as DirecTV Now, Hulu, PlayStation Vue, and Sling TV saw viewership grow 108% year-over-year as compared to 60% growth for other services, i.e. Netflix.
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Indeed, Hulu, which is co-owned by Disney and Comcast, ended 2018 with 25 million subscribers — about half of Netflix’s domestic tally.
The report found that 64% of mobile video streaming is on-demand content versus live video (36%). On PCs, on-demand content represented 57% of streaming vs. 43% live video. VOD consumption increased to 62% on connected TVs compared to 38% live video.
Failure rates of streaming TV ads continue to pose risks and opportunity. Up to 47% of ads are failing, a significant percentage when even a 1% failure rate carries a high cost and impact on engagement, according to Conviva.
Indeed, the report found that just a five-second ad delay resulted in 13.6% of viewers moving on to another video.
The battle for the TV screen is not over. Amazon Fire TV captured 18.6% share, up significantly from 11.4% share in Q1 2018, while Roku maintained its long-standing lead of 42.4% share.
Live sports streaming remains hot.
The College Football National Championship had the highest peak concurrent viewership, 37.6% higher than the Q1‘18 peak event. Super Bowl LIII and March Madness streaming viewership grew significantly, up 157% and 67%, respectively, from Q1 2018.
Other top streamed content in Q1 included the Golden Globes, Oscars, Michael Cohen’s Congressional hearings and release of the Mueller report.
Meanwhile, buffering issues improved 34% year-over-year, with 35% fewer video start failures and 17% increased picture quality.
“There’s no surprise that the streaming TV market is expanding significantly,” Bill Demas, CEO of Conviva, said in a statement. “Maintaining a high-quality viewer experience tightly across content and advertising is increasingly important as streaming providers look to increase viewer engagement and monetization. The battle for streaming market share is a fast-growing pie and services must deliver an experience comparable to linear TV to fulfill viewer expectations.”