Advanced Television

Germany: 1,400 online TV services

December 11, 2012

According to a study on Internet TV by Berlin strategy consultant Goldmedia, there are currently 1,424 online TV services in Germany, with 194 million daily video hits. The number of people accessing videos has increased by 17 per cent compared to 2011. The mobile use of online TV has also increased: Every fifth video hit occurs via mobile devices.

The online-TV market in Germany is consolidating and gains continuing professionalism, with growing marketing opportunities. In this context, 78 per cent of the videos are produced in-house.

The number of video hits has increased significantly. At live sports events, such as the Olympic Games 2012 in London, new viewing records with live-streaming and catch-up TV could be recorded in the web. For VoD, experts predict a stronger growth compared to linear online TV. Furthermore, the average viewing duration for VoD has risen from 9 minutes (2011) to currently 11 minutes, for live-streaming from 25 to 28 minutes.

Meanwhile, every second online-TV provider has a mobile app or an optimised website for mobile devices. Currently, 18 per cent of the video hits are achieved via tablets and smartphones compared to 11 per cent in 2011.

Hybrid TV via home TV, due to the spread of devices, is also gaining significance. The number of total hits of online-TV services via smart or hybrid TV was 5 per cent in 2012, the providers themselves predict a rise to 16 per cent by 2016.

While 72 per cent of all videos of an online-TV channel were seen via the online-TV website itself in 2011, it is only 67 per cent in 2012. This goes along with the increasing importance of social networks, particularly YouTube and Facebook. Altogether, they generated 25 per cent of the total hits in 2012 (status: beginning of October 2012).

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