Advanced Television

Ooyala: Online video kills TV schedule

May 30, 2012

Ooyala, a provider of digital video technology, analytics and services, has released its Q1 2012 Video Index report revealing current global trends in digital video consumption. Among the findings, the report demonstrates dramatically increased viewer engagement across web-connected devices; more time spent online with premium, long-form entertainment; and evolving time-of-day and day-of-week consumption patterns across mobile and tablet devices.

For example, for the first time, long-form content – videos longer than ten minutes in length – accounted for over half the content consumed between the 1st January and the 31st March 2012, across Ooyala’s footprint of nearly 200 million monthly viewers worldwide. This means people are spending more time than ever watching full-length TV shows, feature films and sporting events, while time viewed in short bursts is decreasing as a percentage of overall consumption.

“There is a fundamental shift in the way people are viewing television. Consumers now have the power to choose their own prime time,” said Jay Fulcher, CEO, Ooyala. “The spike in tablet and smartphone viewing during weekend nights and commutes shows how the living room experience is fragmenting across devices. Smart publishers and advertisers can use analytics like those Ooyala provides to understand which revenue strategies work best as these trends continue to evolve.”

Other highlights from the report include:
– The overall share of time watched on smartphones grew by 41 per cent last quarter, while the share of time watched on tablets grew by 32 per cent
– On a typical weekday, a full third of tablet video plays occur between 7pm and

11pm, while only about 17 per cent of PC plays take place over that same period
– Viewers on connected TVs watch nearly a third more video between 4pm and 11pm on Saturdays than on a typical weekday evening
– Power viewers emerge: ten per cent of a publisher’s audience watches more than five of its videos in a given day
– Following Apple’s March iPad release, the amount of video watched on tablets jumped 26 per cent. iPads presently account for 95 per cent of tablet video viewing
– Many publishers can significantly improve revenue by increasing ad load and employing more mid-roll ads, especially on longer videos

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, Consumer Behaviour, OTT, OTT, Research