Advanced Television

Report: Streaming TV viewership up 72% YoY

April 30, 2019

According to the findings of the Q1‘19 State of the Streaming TV Industry report from real-time decisioning platform Conviva, year-over-year viewership grew 72 per cent and the rate of consumption growth increased by 49 per cent. In addition to fresh updates on index data related to consumption patterns, device market share, and customer experience issues, the 10+ page Conviva report provides insights on streaming TV advertising and social media engagement for the first time.

Some of the most revealing and surprising insights from Conviva’s analysis of a trillion real-time transactions per day via 3 billion applications streaming on devices in 180 countries include:

  • Content aggregator growth continues. Virtual MVPDs such as DirecTV Now, Hulu, PlayStation Vue, and Sling saw viewership grow 108 per cent year-over-year as compared to 60 per cent growth for other services in the United States.
  • Massive failure rate of streaming TV ads signals both huge risk and opportunity. Up to 47 per cent of ads are failing, when even a 1 per cent failure rate carries a high cost and impact on engagement. The report also details the relationship between ad delays and loss of viewers.
  • The battle for the TV screen is not over. Amazon Fire TV captured 18.6 per cent share, up significantly from 11.4 per cent share in Q1 2018, while Roku maintained its long-standing lead of 42.4 per cent share. The Q1’19 Conviva report also details connected TV vs. mobile vs. PC consumption patterns.
  • Live sports streaming remains hot. The College Football National Championship had the highest peak concurrent viewership, 37.6 per cent higher than the Q1’18 peak event. Super Bowl LIII and March Madness streaming viewership grew significantly, up 157 per cent and 67 per cent respectively.
  • Social media is a big opportunity for content distribution and monetisation. New Conviva findings provide initial insights on which content performs best by platform, viewership dynamics on peak events such as the Oscars, sports championships, and the Mueller Report, and the effectiveness of short-form and full-length content distribution.
  • Quality metrics are significantly improving along with massive growth. Buffering improved dramatically year-over-year, with fewer video start failures and picture quality increasing significantly. The Q1’19 report provides the latest statistics on dozens of quality measurements, but also signals to the industry that we still have far to go, amidst heightened viewer expectations.

“There’s no surprise that the streaming TV market is expanding significantly,” said Bill Demas, CEO of Conviva. “Maintaining a high-quality viewer experience tightly across content and advertising is increasingly important as streaming providers look to increase viewer engagement and monetisation. The battle for streaming market share is a fast-growing pie and services must deliver an experience comparable to linear TV to fulfil viewer expectations.”

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