Connected TV Use Grows 50% in Past Year, Smartphone Use Decreases
The average number of connected TVs used in homes has increased 50 percent from Q1 2015 and Q1 2016, rising from a skimpy 0.09 to 0.2. During the same period, smartphone use decreased by 20 percent (from an average of 0.39 phones used to stream video per home to an average of 0.25) while desktop/notebook use decreased by 10 percent (from an average of 1.18 tablets used to stream video per home to 1.07).
This data in how people watch online programming comes from a white paper commissioned by video optimization company Conviva and created by nScreenMedia.
Connected TVs get the most streaming video use inside the home, but the change in the amount of time spent watching them has barely budged: Connected TV viewers averaged 139 minutes of video streaming per day in Q1 2015, rising to 145 minutes in Q1 2016. During the same period, in-home computer streaming grew from 71 minutes to 97 minutes, in-home phone viewing grew 15 to 19 minutes, and in-home tablet viewing grew 20 to 35 minutes.
The growth of premium OTT programming is one trend driving these results, as people prefer to use the biggest screen in the house for long-form programming. Binge viewers especially prefer connected TVs: They have an 80 percent program completion rate on connected TVs, a 64 percent completion rate on tablets, an a 55 percent completion rate on computers and phones.
When viewing video outside the home, 79 percent reach for a tablet or phone, while 13 percent go with a laptop. People watch more short-form streamed video inside the home (time spent breaks down as 53 percent short-form, 27 percent long-form, and 19 percent live), but more long-form outside the home (39 percent long-form, 36 percent short-form, and 25 percent live).
No matter the device, prime time is still the most popular time for video:
"Since the beginning of broadcast entertainment, primetime has been king as families gathered around radios and then TVs; but with the advent of broadband connected multi-screen devices, some have been prognosticating the death of primetime," says Ed Haslam, chief marketing officer at Conviva. "Digging a little deeper, we analyzed both the number of times people clicked play during each hour of a typical day, as well as how long they watched. This was measured across smartphones, tablets, PCs and connected TVs to examine how each device’s dominance across the time of day varied according to both plays and viewing time. The one thing that was consistent was that across all device types both plays and viewing time spiked during primetime, specifically between 8-10 PM. Primetime is still indeed the king."
The study also looked at video quality concerns, finding that quality is much worse outside the home: 14.3 percent said buffering impacted their viewing outside the home, compared to 7.9 percent of in-home viewers.
Conviva's data comes from a global pool of 2 billion video streams over a one-year period. The full study will be available for download in Q4 2016 (registration required).
Related Articles
Premium connected TV apps enjoy the highest completion rates, with over 95% of ads being watched from start to finish.
14 Dec 2018
Targeting demographic profiles is effective, but targeting engaged viewers and shoppers is bound to be much stronger. Conviva lays the groundwork for 2016.
08 Jan 2016
In its annual viewer experience report, Conviva finds that OTT streaming is improving, but multiscreen viewers are more demanding than ever.
21 Apr 2015
The delivery optimization company finds that viewers quickly stop watching poor video and often leave the site that's providing it.
26 Mar 2015