Study: Connected TV platform of choice for streaming
May 9, 2018
Colin Mann @ TV Connect
As TV Connect, the IP video distribution conference and expo, gets under way in London, OTT TV data-driven intelligence specialist Conviva and OTT multiscreen media analysis firm nScreenMedia have revealed the findings of a research study analysing billions of streaming sessions and hours around the globe.
The report examines several notable viewing trends over a three-year time period such as in-home versus out-of-home, device usage across dayparts, and content patterns related to short-form, long-form, live-linear broadcasts, and sports.
According to the pair, understanding exactly what viewers are consuming on which device, at what time of the day, is the key to delivering a competitive OTT service – and delivering it successfully. Viewer experience, content, and monetisation have become the three pillars of the next generation of TV, and the industry needs accurate data to make competitive business decisions.
The data behind The Secret Life of Streamers, Part II research study was meticulously reviewed and analysed by OTT industry veteran, Colin Dixon, founder and principal analyst at nScreenMedia. Dixon created nScreenMedia to be a resource for the Digital Media Industry as it transitions to a new infrastructure for multi-screen delivery.
“Conviva has a unique census-level data set capturing detailed viewing habits of billions of streaming video applications and devices across the globe,” asserted Dixon. “Our most recent independent analysis shows connected TV dominating all devices 24/7, with plays increasing 75 per cent, highlighting the rise of this platform at the expense of other screens. The transition from traditional television to streaming television has become more prominent, and viewers are binge-watching multiple shows via connected TV during primetime.”
Globally, the share of plays by country shows connected TV is up in the UK, US, Norway, Germany, and Australia, while PC usage is down. When it comes to quality, the report found that mobile picture quality (as measured by bitrate) has improved worldwide, and rebuffering ratio is also improving (with a few exceptions).
“The insights found in these studies have allowed our publishers to leverage industry-first data to better understand their consumers’ content consumption behaviors, daypart trends by device, and screen preferences,” says Dr. Hui Zhang, Co-Founder & CEO of Conviva. “Data-driven insights that help OTT decision-makers understand in-home versus out-of-home viewing habits, for instance, can inform cost-saving encoding decisions as well as revenue-generating advertising decisions.”
Other key findings of the report include:
- Connected TV streaming in the home has tripled since 2015 and has replaced the PC as the platform of choice for binge-watching.
- The average viewing session on connected TVs, 77 minutes, is twice the amount of time viewers spend watching streaming video on personal computers and mobile devices.
- The way people in the US and the UK stream on mobile devices, PCs, and connected TVs is very similar. Both countries favour connected TV, accounting for 46 per cent of premium video plays in the US and 43 per cent in the UK.
- The UK, US, and Norway prefer longer episodic content on their mobile devices, while Canadians prefer short videos on mobile.
The Secret Life of Streamers, Part II follows a similar study carried out in 2016. The data used in this research study came from nearly two billion streaming sessions in North America from April 2016 to April 2017. A second global data set from October 2016 and October 2017 was also used to complement the original 2015-2016 study. Data was analysed from connected TV devices, smartphones, tablets, and many other video viewing devices.