FOSTER CITY, Calif.—In another sign that the North American streaming market is maturing, a new report from Conviva found that streaming viewing time in North America rose by only 5% in Q2 2022 compared to a year earlier. 

That was much slower growth than the global market, where streaming viewing time grew by 14% in Q2 2022.

The fastest growing region was Asia (up a whopping 90%), followed by Latin America (up 70%), Oceana (up 26%), Africa (up 22%) and Europe (20%) in Q2 2022 compared to Q2 2021.

The Conviva Q2 2022 State of Streaming report also provided data on trends in the most popular devices for streaming. 

Smart TVs saw the largest increase in bitrate of all screen types, up 15.1% year over year. But as Smart TV usage has grown, so have the problems. 

In terms of mobile streaming, the researchers noted that the iPhone has been the primary device for mobile streaming, especially in North America. But in Q2 2022 the gap closed, with iPhone and Android phones capturing nearly identical global market share, 35.8% vs 33.2% respectively. 

Conviva also reported that Roku remains the most popular streaming device. Thanks to its massive North American market share, Roku claimed a 23.1% share of all devices globally and 30.5% of all big screen viewing. 

As the global streaming industry matures, streaming success is getting more complicated, the researchers stressed. Device fragmentation is growing, and viewers’ quality expectations continue rising in concert with an ad-supported streaming world. Streaming publishers are challenged to deliver a consistent and positive experience. Whether in Africa using an Android phone or in Texas on a Smart TV – viewers expect a quality picture, instant access to content and zero glitches. 

“The race is on to see which publishers will meet these expectations, including providing the best experience when it’s most important,” said Keith Zubchevich, president and CEO, Conviva. “Those that do will quickly eclipse the competition.”

“For longform VOD content watched from the couch, that means improving bitrate,” added Zubchevich. “For live content, that means decreasing VST and buffering to provide a similar experience to linear TV. For mobile devices, where bitrate is less important, publishers may want to think about optimizing VST and buffering. And as streaming ads become a way of life, optimizing their performance will separate the leaders from the pack,” 

Other key findings included: 

• Conviva found bitrate rose globally in Q2 2022 across all screen types and devices, but often at the expense of other quality metrics. For example, Smart TVs saw the largest increase in bitrate of all screen types, up 15.1% year over year. However, to provide this more high-definition experience, Smart TVs saw noticeable increases in video start failures, video start time and buffering. Conversely, PlayStation and Roku were the only big screen devices to both decrease video start times (down 10.7% and 12% respectively) and increase bitrate (up 4.6% and 12.9% respectively).
• Big screens and Roku remain on top. Roku continued to hold the top spot among big screen devices (big screens include connected TVs, smart TVs and gaming consoles) , holding nearly steady at 30.5% of viewing time, down less than one percent as compared to Q2 2021 with Amazon Fire TV coming in second with 16% of big screen viewing time. Samsung TV (13.7%), Android TV (7.8%) and LG TV (7.3%) rounded out the top five devices for big screen viewing time. Chromecast, Xbox and PlayStation all saw a decrease in share as compared to the previous year, the study found.
• Android vs iPhone streaming showdown. To date, the iPhone has been the primary device for mobile streaming, especially in North America. In Q2 2022 the gap closed, with iPhone and Android phones capturing nearly identical global market share, 35.8% vs 33.2% respectively. In addition, Android phones outpaced the iPhone by 10% in YoY growth in streaming viewing hours. In Apple’s favor is its quality — as the iPhone currently beats Android phones in every quality category. As streaming publishers expand into newer, less mature streaming markets outside of North America, optimizing the streaming experience for the android mobile device market will be of increasing importance, the study found. 

Data analyzed for the Q2 2022 State of Streaming report was primarily collected from Conviva’s unique proprietary sensor technology. Currently embedded in 3.3 billion streaming video applications, it measures more than 500 million unique viewers watching 180 billion streams per year and nearly 2 trillion real-time transactions per day across more than 180 countries. 

The social media data, collected from the Streaming Publishers leaderboard list within Conviva Social Insights, consists of data from 100 accounts, over 7,500 million posts, and over 30 million engagements across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube between Q2 2021 and Q2 2022.

Year-over-year comparisons were normalized at the customer level for accurate representations of industry growth.

The complete report is available here. 

Foster City, Calif.—While TV ratings for the 2022 Winter Olympics have been down from previous years in the U.S., a new report from Conviva reports a massive global increase in the time spent streaming Winter Olympic coverage around the world, with the time spent streaming on the day of the 2022 Opening Ceremony up 349% compared to 2018. 

The study also found a big bounce in social media engagement, with the official Olympics social media accounts from 120+ different countries increasing 370% compared to the average for the previous six weeks. 

Twitter had the biggest share of that engagement, posting a 37% share.

In terms of devices, connected TV devices and  tablets had the largest share of streaming time, with each getting a 28% share, followed by desktops (17% share), smart TVs (14%), mobile phones (12%) and gaming consoles (1%). 

Roku had the largest share of big screen viewing, at 38%, followed by Fire TV (23%). 

Among the National Olympic Committee social media accounts, Russia had the more engagements (646K), followed by the U.S. (547K) and Canada (526K). 

More data on the study can be found here.   

FOSTER CITY, Calif.—Sports fans saw the return of March Madness over the weekend, and one of the big early winners is the TV screen. A report from Conviva on viewing habits for the first two days of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament reveal record-setting streaming numbers, and a majority of that being done through televisions.

The first two rounds of the tournament saw more than 1 billion minutes total streamed for all 32 games. Day one saw 15% more time spent streaming than day two, but that is historically in line with past tournaments. Also, the first day of the tournament took place during a Friday with games starting around noon and hitting peaks around 3 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. ET. The second day of games took place on a Saturday and saw its streaming peak occur around 9:15 p.m. ET.

Fans were primarily choosing to stream on the big screen, per Conviva. For the first time, TV earned more than 50% of the shared March Madness viewing time, with 68% of people streaming on their TVs. That number was 41% in 2018 and 48% in 2019.

Roku proved to be the most popular of the TV streaming platforms, garnering 40% of those who streamed through the TV. Amazon Fire TV was second with 26% and then Samsung TV with 10%.

For more information, visit Conviva’s website for the full report. 

FOSTER CITY, Calif.—Super Bowl LV saw record streaming numbers (possibly contributing to the game’s lower traditional TV ratings), but the big winner among streamers was Roku, according to Conviva’s “Super Bowl LV Recap,” which covered streaming, social media and advertising data.

According to CBS, 5.7 million people streamed Super Bowl LV on Feb. 7 across all platforms. Conviva drilled its findings down into streaming attempts through TVs, including a breakdown of what streaming services/platforms people used to watch the game. Roku was the far and away leader, nabbing a 41% share of Super Bowl streams. The next closest was Amazon Fire TV, which had 24%, and Apple TV at 12%; no other platform had more than 8%.

With the increase in streaming of the game, Conviva also looked at the quality of all streams. Conviva found that viewers experienced 0.51% of buffering time during the Super Bowl; this is higher than the Q4 2020 average of 0.36%, but “quite good compared to other tentpole live events,” Conviva said.

Picture quality was also lower than the Q4 2020 average—4.59 Mbps bitrate during the game, 6.56 Mbps for Q4—for which Conviva points to the number of mobile devices streaming the game as a likely factor.

One area where Super Bowl streams outperformed was video start time, averaging 3.23 seconds, better than the 4.23 second mark from Q4. However, issues video start failure rates were up, with a reported rate of 2.45% compared to 0.73% for Q4.

Conviva says that a spike at the beginning of the game was the primary reason for many of these delays, with stream normalizing as the stream continued.

Conviva also measured what areas of the country exceeded expected streaming sizes for the Super Bowl. Cleveland and Denver were the largest examples of this, with exceeding the expected size by 183% and 141%, respectively. Tampa Bay and Kansas City, whose teams played in the game, also outperformed expectations by 19% and 16%. Miami-Ft. Lauderdale and Houston underperformed by 24% and 23%, according to Conviva.

For the full Conviva report, visit www.conviva.com.  

FOSTER CITY, Calif.—The upward trend of streaming continued into the third quarter of 2020, as Conviva has reported that overall viewing time for streaming was up 57% in Q3 year-over-year. This was part of Conviva’s quarterly “State of Streaming” report, which also touched on the return of advertising in Q3, the use of smart TVs and streaming of the NFL.

Of the overall viewing time for streaming, 55% of it was done on connected TV devices like Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV or Chromecast in Q3. Roku led the way with 47.7% share of connected TV device use, followed by Amazon Fire TV at 27.6%. However, Conviva notes that this is the first time that connected TV devices did not keep pace with overall streaming growth (57%), which Conviva says is due to more viewers streaming within their TV’s native app rather than an external device.

This use of smart TVs (i.e. Samsung, LG, Vizio) for streaming shot up 200% in overall viewing time in Q3, per Conviva, nearly doubling their share over the past year—14.8% now vs. 7.7% in Q3 2019.

What people are watching through streaming is also changing, including for one of traditional TVs key areas, sports. Conviva reported that fans watching NFL games over streaming increased 41% year-over-year. Daytime games saw an increase of 63% for streaming, while primetime games were up 32% from 2019. 

Still, a majority (70%) are streaming the games on a big screen TV. Overall, TV still leads the way for NFL viewership, making up 67%, with mobile at 13% and PC at 6%.

As for advertising, the third quarter marked the return of ad demand, thanks in part to the return of live sports. Q3 saw a 22% increase in impressions as a result of a 14% increase in ad attempts and a 22% decrease in failed ad attempts. Conviva also found that ad quality improved in Q3, with time spent waiting for ads to buffer down 28%, as well as an 11% increase in picture quality.

For more information on Conviva’s “State of Streaming” report for Q3 2020, visit www.conviva.com. 

FOSTER CITY, Calif.—Streaming is not immune to COVID-19-related impacts, as Conviva’s “State of Streaming” report for Q2 2020 found that streaming video advertising saw a sharp decline globally and in the U.S., while overall streaming numbers for May and June also dipped after a high in April.

Conviva reports that advertising demand dropped in Q2, in part due to a lack of sports, with advertising attempts across the globe decreasing by 28% from Q1 2020 numbers, while down 22% in the U.S.

However, streaming ads saw improvement in overall quality, Conviva found. Viewers spent 38% less time waiting for an ad to start in Q2 compared to Q1, resulting in a 22% drop in pre-ad viewer-initiated exits. Conviva also reports that ad picture quality improved, with bitrate up 53%. Still, despite these improvements, nearly 45% of ads represented missed opportunities, with the most common advertising issues being the lack of demand as publishers try to fill slots, but no relevant ad is available.

“Shelter-in-place mandates skyrocketed streaming viewership in April, led by Europe, which saw a 174% increase year-over-year,” said Bill Demas, CEO of Conviva. “Unfortunately, advertising moved in the opposite direction with global demand significantly reduced due to COVID-19. We expect advertising to bounce back in the coming quarters as the industry and viewers acclimate to a ‘new normal,’ including streaming being part of the everyday routine.”

In regards to the increased streaming viewership numbers Demas mentions, the global share of Smart TV viewing more than doubled as viewing time increased 239% year-over-year. Connected TV devices, meanwhile, saw a 61% increase, and game consoles had a 51% increase year-over-year. Connected TV devices had the largest share time in both North America (56%) and Europe (32%).

Additional findings from Conviva’s report include more people watching YouTube content on connected TVs and consoles, representing 25% of YouTube viewing in Q2, a 69% increase from Q2 2019.

The full Conviva report is available online. 

FOSTER CITY, Calif.—Baby Yoda and other new streaming content increased the amount of time that viewers spent streaming in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to the latest report from global streaming media intelligence company Conviva.

In Conviva’s “State of Streaming” report for Q4 2019, consumers’ time spent streaming increased 58% from the same period last year, strongly motivated by the launch of new services like Disney+ and Apple TV+. The report also found that on-demand streaming is more popular than live streaming, with on-demand making up 66% of global streaming.

Another part of Conviva’s report looked at advertising in streaming, which is still experiencing issues. Conviva found that start time for ads nearly doubled from Q3 2019 to Q4, from 1.14 to 2.27 seconds, which makes it more likely that viewers will exit an ad (49% exit before an ad starts). Ad buffering also remains an issue, seeing a 48% increase quarter over quarter. Small gains were seen, however, with the number of streaming ad attempts that failed to play (down to 36.5% from 39.6%) and ad start failures (35.7% to 30.8%). The average time of ads also shrunk from 38 seconds in Q3 to 26.6 seconds in Q4.

“From recent entrants like Disney+ to soon-to-be-launched services like NBC’s Peacock and HBO Max, we’ve barely begun to scratch the surface of streaming’s impact not only on consumer behavior, but also on the multi-billion dollar advertising and entertainment industries,” said Bill Demas, CEO at Conviva. “As with any disruptive technology, growing pains are inevitable. The companies that win the streaming wars will be those able to offer viewers a fast, clear, reliable experience regardless of where in the world they live, or what device they use.”

In addition, Conviva also revealed in its report of improved performance of the leading streaming player Roku, seeing reductions in video start failures, video start times, buffering and improved bitrate and picture quality.

Other findings in the report included the rise of streaming internationally, Android’s dominance in the mobile streaming sector and news and sports use of social platforms for streaming content.

For more information, read the full report from Conviva.

FOSTER CITY, Calif.—As streaming continues to build in popularity, so too does the video quality offered by the platforms, with the largest gain seen among PCs and mobile devices.

These are part of the findings from the “State of Streaming” report for the third quarter 2019 put out by Conviva.

On a year-to-year comparison, video quality overall improved for streaming, with video start failures down 10%, video start times occurring 6% faster, there is 33% less buffering and the picture quality, which is based on bitrate, 3% better. Streaming on PCs had the most consistent improvement, seeing 17% fewer video start failures, 23% faster video start times and 26% less buffering. Mobile’s biggest gain was the decrease in buffering (34%), but video start failures and start times improvements were smaller (down 2% and 4%, respectively).

However, the quality of video ads did not see improvement in Q3. Conviva found that 39.6% of all streaming ad attempts failed, while it could take up 16.1 seconds for an ad to start and there was 45.9% ad buffering. Between 9 and 20% of viewers dropped a stream when an ad popped up. After four ads, 54% of audiences would drop, however not in sports, as viewers became less likely to drop after the first ad.

Overall, Conviva found that the amount of time spent streaming in Q3 was up 53% over the same period last year, the majority of which (63%) is on-demand over TVs, PCs and mobile devices.

Additional findings included NFL fans making moves toward streaming for game action. Q3 saw a 77% increase in streaming plays and 50% in time overall. Mobile saw the largest growth at 109%, while TV came in at 66% growth; PCs saw a decline of 11%. Mobile viewing is mostly just to watch game highlights, while streaming through social media varies on platform depending on what team someone is a fan of.

Roku also was the leading device for streaming (44% of market share), but Amazon Fire TV saw the largest growth rate for viewing time at 78%.

“Streaming is quickly becoming the new normal,” said Bill Demas, Conviva CEO. “As a result, we will continue to see new upstarts in the category accompanied by traditional media companies and big brand advertisers embracing the potential of the market. This is an industry undergoing massive growth and what happens in the next 18 months will shape what, how and when we watch content in the future.”

The full report can be found here.

FOSTER CITY, Calif.—The number of hours viewing streamed content among U.S. consumers increased 130% overall over the past 12 months, with connected TV seeing the biggest jump at 143% according to Conviva’s “State of the Streaming TV Industry” report.

Streaming over mobile devices increased a healthy 109% over the same period with streaming over PCs increasing 75%. This translates to 28.8 minutes of watch time per play for connected TVs, 12 for mobile and 15.1 minutes per play for PCs.

Peak times for streaming real-time content broke records four times in Q2 2019, all coinciding with the final season of HBO’s “Game of Thrones;” first on April 15, when it streamed in Asia, April 29, when it streamed in the U.K., and May 13 and May 20, when the final two episodes were streamed in the U.S. These beat the previous record by 67%, set in 2018 during the FIFA World Cup.

The top 15 U.S. markets all experienced triple digit growth in viewing hours with Dallas, Atlanta and Phoenix the top three markets. Minneapolis/St. Paul saw the largest growth of hours streamed at 170%.

Tech issues such as buffering and start failures and delays pose a significant hazard for streaming ads, according to Conviva, which noted that 47% of expected ad opportunities went unfilled because of technical problems over the past 12 months.

“Failures are amplified and particularly impactful considering the multiplier effect across subsequent ad breaks if a viewer tunes out due to a poor ad experience,” Conviva said. “In 2019, with new platforms vying for consumer dollars, focus on the entirety of the viewing experience will be an important factor in continued retention and monetization of viewers.”

As streamers gain more and more information about viewers, the quality of the ads will become more important, Conviva said, which also recommended fewer commercial breaks to avoid viewer fatigue. The researcher also advised streamers to experiment with shortening the 30-second ad so characteristic of traditional TV breaks.

“With less time and fewer ad breaks to convert a viewer into a purchaser, the quality of each ad is paramount to carry out the promise of streaming to match the perfect ad to the perfect viewer,” Conviva said.

With more connected TVs integrating streaming services into the sets themselves, this gave Roku the advantage as it notched a 43% market share among streaming services, a 173% year-over-year growth, according to Conviva. Amazon Fire TV was next with 18% share among connected TV devices. Apple TV was up 129% to account for 10% share. Xbox, with a 9% share, led the way in improved buffering while Apple TV received the highest marks in performance, including best video start time and picture quality. 

SILICON VALLEY, Calif.—The beginning of 2019 has shown no signs of the streaming revolution slowing down, as Conviva’s “State of the Streaming TV Industry” report covering the first quarter of 2019 details. However, the TV still holds a strong grip as the chief method for watching the latest content.

In Conviva’s report it was revealed that streaming viewership grew 72% year-over-year, and the rate of consumption growth increased by 49%. While this growth of streaming includes mobile devices (73% growth) and PCs (55% growth), it is connected TVs that is having the biggest impact.

Connected TVs viewership growth came in at 74%, while in terms of hours spent viewing streaming content, TVs were the top choice at 56%. Among available connected TV devices, Roku maintained its lead share of the market at 42.4%, but there was strong growth with Amazon Fire TV, which grew from 11.4% in Q1 2018 to an 18.6% share in the new report.

As far as how people are watching, virtual MVPDs—DirecTV Now, Hulu, Playstation Vue and Sling—had a 108% growth in viewership year-over-year; other services came in at 60% growth in the U.S.

Sports also remain a key component for viewership numbers, as the College Football National Championship game held the highest peak concurrent viewership of the quarter, 37.6% higher than the Q1 2018 peak event. Super Bowl LIII and March Madness also saw streaming boosts of 157% and 67%, respectively.

Not all of the findings were positive. Up to 47% of streaming TV ads are failing according to Conviva, carrying a high cost and impact on engagement.

“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 monetization. The battle for streaming market share is a fast-growing pie and service must deliver an experience comparable to linear TV to fulfill viewer expectations.”

The findings of the report were based on an analysis of a trillion real-time transactions per day via three billion applications streaming on devices in 180 countries.

To access the full report, visit conviva.com.

Global TV streaming audiences have more than doubled this year compared to the same time period in 2017, while crucial quality metrics have continued to improve.

This is according to Conviva’s quarterly report on the state of streaming TV across all screens and platforms, examining both the quantity of viewership and quality of streams delivered.

Conviva's Q2 2018 report discovered:

• Streaming TV content consumption more than doubled over the last 12 months. Consumers are streaming more than ever, and growth continues to accelerate.

• The device landscape continues to evolve towards mobile and connected TVs. PC use for streaming TV is declining in favour of mobile devices, especially for short-form content, while connected TV platforms, led by Roku, are favoured for long-form content.

• The quality of the streams delivered continues to improve for the most part, but there is still room for improvement. North America and Europe saw quality improvements across the board, while Asia lagged behind in both picture quality (bit rate) and rebuffering.

Conviva saw new peaks in both total and concurrent plays in Q2 2018, with a record-breaking 7.9 million people streaming the France vs. Argentina World Cup match concurrently on June 30 and a total of 5.5 billion viewing hours consumed during the quarter. This represents a 118 per cent growth in peak concurrency and 115 per cent growth in total plays from the same time period last year.

"The demand for streaming TV globally is growing at a stunning rate," said Bill Demas, CEO of Conviva. "Roku and Amazon's Fire TV are leading the connected TV charge with growth and share of engagement. We're excited to share the impressive trends from the report that are continuing to accelerate year-over-year along with specific areas of improvement needed for successfully delivering high quality video to consumers."

FOSTER CITY, CALIF.—OTT is an increasingly vital part of the broadcast industry, but as a new research study supported by Conviva and MTM revealed, there isn’t a set approach that OTT players are using right now.

The study explored OTT operational best practices from leading publishers in EMEA and North America. Specifically, it looked at how much time and effort is expended to both discover and fix service delivery issues, like high buffering, low bitrates and slow video start times. The original goal of the study, according to Conviva, was to find commonalities across publishers to establish economic benchmarks.

However, the report makes the claim that there is no such thing as a “typical OTT publisher.” While the broadcast industry has adopted common standards and practices for delivering content, OTT publishers utilize a variety of approaches for managing video delivery in an attempt to provide viewers with a high quality of experience.

There was industry agreement on what the industry considers its most difficult operation tasks, performing root cause analysis. This covers areas like re-buffering or stream failures. Most respondents also agreed that automation or machine learning would help them with diagnosing the root cause of any problem.

According to Conviva and MTM, the results present a great opportunity for industry trade groups, like the Streaming Video Alliance, to establish industry-wide standards on what constitutes a high-quality streaming video experience, as well as an opportunity to share knowledge and best practices with peers on operating, alerting and issue resolution. “This could improve the quality of streaming video across the industry, potentially accelerating the overall growth of OTT streaming video,” the official press release said.

The full whitepaper is available here.