Advanced Television

Ooyala: Dramatic differences in online viewing vs. traditional

April 4, 2013

Recent research from personalised video experience specialist Ooyala suggest that live and long-form video outperforms on-demand and short-form video across all screens.

The findings come in a special edition of its quarterly Global Video Index, revealing the most recent trends in multi-screen video consumption from broadcasters and entertainment networks around the world. They spotlight dramatic differences in time spent with live content compared to video-on-demand (VoD) and prime time online viewing hours compared to traditional TV.

The report provides a snapshot, taken in March 2013, that demonstrates the continuing shift of premium content from the constraints of traditional distribution to the burgeoning cross-device landscape, driven by the ubiquity of video-capable connected devices. The insights in the report help broadcasters better understand consumption to inform content and advertising strategies.

Among the report’s findings:

  • People tune into live video 2.5 times longer than VoD content on broadcast and entertainment networks
  • Prime viewing hours for online broadcast content is noon on weekdays and 9PM on weekends
  • Tablet viewing spikes on weekends, when viewers spend twice as much time watching video from broadcasters online
  • More than 75 per cent of time spent watching mobile video in March was with long form content (videos longer than 10 minutes in length)
  • Nearly half of all tablet video consumption was with video at least 30 minutes in length

“For broadcasters that rely on video to drive their business, insights – like where people are watching, for how long, on what device – drive their programming and monetisation strategies,” said Jay Fulcher, CEO at Ooyala. “If their strategy is off they lose money, or if they’re lucky, just leave money on the table. Simply put, data-driven insights yield better content, better programming and will help companies make more money,” he advised.

Categories: Articles, Consumer Behaviour, Mobile, Portable Media, Research, VOD