Advanced Television

Ooyala: Mobile viewing up 129% from 2014

June 16, 2016

Ooyala, a Telstra subsidiary and specialist in video publishing, analytics and monetisation, has published its Q1 2016 Global Video Index drawing insights from more than 3.5 billion video analytic events per day from 220 million viewers across the world. The report this quarter compares engagement trends between subscription video services (SVoD) and advertising video services (AVoD), helping premium content providers understand how viewership differs between the two business models to better inform monetization strategies.

The report analyses the correlations between content length and drop-off rates as well as the impact of content recommendations to keep viewers watching longer. Further, the report shows the continued growth of premium, programmatic trading, the success of ad-reinsertion technology, the continued growth of mobile consumption, as well as time-of-day viewing patterns.



SVoD vs. AVoD:

The findings show a strong correlation between content length and engagement in each model, revealing opportunities for publishers to tailor their monetisation strategies accordingly. For SVoD services, which are almost exclusively comprised of long-form content like episodic series and full-length feature films, nearly 100 per cent of viewing across all devices is with long-form video, content 20 minutes or longer. However, consumption on AVoD differs significantly.
Smartphone and PC viewers prefer short-form content the most, at 66 and 55 per cent, respectively. Tablets viewers spend little time with mid-form video, instead viewing is evenly split between long-form (43 per cent) and short-form content (44 per cent). Connected TV viewers watch long-form content 92 per cent of the time with SVoD services.

The report also analyses how consumption of AVoD and SVoD assets differ by device and content length. The findings show a near split in engagement between small and large screen devices. SVoD viewers spend 55 per cent of their time on PCs, while SVoD viewers do the opposite, spending 55 per cent of their time on mobile devices. This suggests SVoD services are more personal experiences and, therefore, favour more personal devices.


Opportunity with Programmatic & Ad Reinsertion:
Between Q4 2015 and Q1 2016, there was a 22 per cent increase of premium content made available across the global user base of Ooyala Pulse SSP, Ooyala’s programmatic trading platform for premium video. Combined with continued growth in programmatic activity from premium buyers, this led to a 74 per cent increase in paid impressions. As a result, average CPMs in private marketplaces increased by 13 per cent, notable as CPMs typically decrease in Q1.


Engagement Trends:

The new Index takes a unique look at the trends, causes and solutions of video drop-off rates. The data shows across short-, mid- and long-form video viewers tend to drop off anywhere between 70 to 95 per cent of completion depending upon device and content length. Short-form video sees the highest completion rate of 90 to 95 per cent and PC viewers drop off sooner than on mobile devices regardless of content length. Quality-of-experience (QoE) is a cause as well as a solution for drop-off rates. The report finds a 0.2 per cent or less buffer ratio, or the amount of time spent buffering versus watching, proves to be the most successful in keeping viewers engaged. Half of viewers drop from video when the buffer ratio is one per cent, and 43 per cent drop when it’s 0.4 per cent.

Content recommendations make a significant impact on viewer retention. Pulling data from Ooyala Discovery, the company’s content recommendation technology, the report finds viewers will on average watch 40 per cent of all content recommended to them, driving more views.

“The TV revolution has reached an inflection point as already-complex issues now compound upon one another causing even more perplexing challenges for premium content providers. Everything from the quality-of-experience to buffer ratios, business model strategies and how to keep viewers engaged, success in today’s TV landscape requires big solutions to big questions,” said Ooyala Principal Analyst, Jim O’Neill. “Having a data-driven and analytics-informed business is key in reducing the complexities and building a healthy, and lucrative video business.”


 More Q1 2016 Video Index highlights include:

●     Mobile viewing now represents 48 per cent of all online view starts, up 14 per cent from a year ago and up 129 per cent from 2014.
●     Nearly one in five (18 per cent) of all mobile views are now on tablets, marking the third consecutive quarter of growth for tablet viewership.
●     After being served recommended content, viewers will average a 10 per cent organic lift in video viewing thereafter, leading to a 6 – 23 per cent uptick of time spent on site.
●     During weekdays all devices ramp up in viewership synchronously in the morning, PCs outpace tablet and smartphones combined, but at night tablets and smartphones increase as PCs decrease.
●     During the weekends, interestingly, all devices share similar cycles: ramp up in the morning, maintain steady usage throughout the day and dip in the evening.

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