Online TV Consumption at All-Time High
June 5, 2014
Adobe released its Q1 2014 Video Benchmark Report, which analyzes online TV (TV Everywhere) and non-authenticated online video trends. Key findings of the Adobe Digital Index report show that online TV consumption across all devices grew at 246 percent year-over-year (YoY) with March 2014 setting a new record in total authentications. Game consoles and Over-the-top (OTT) devices saw the strongest market share growth with a 539 percent increase. For the first time iOS apps surpassed browsers as the most popular access point for TV Everywhere content achieving a 43 percent market share. Browsers fell behind with a 36 percent share compared to 47 percent a year ago.
The analysis is based on aggregated and anonymous data from over 1,300 media and entertainment sites between Q1 2013 and Q1 2014. It includes 151 billion total online video starts and 1.3 billion TV Everywhere authentications across 250 pay-TV service providers covering 99 percent of pay-TV households in the U.S. The analysis also examined TV Everywhere content from 95 TV channels and over 160 TV Everywhere sites and apps.
“More than one fifth of all pay-TV households in the U.S. now watch TV online across screens,” said Jeremy Helfand, vice president, Primetime, Adobe. “With rapidly rising consumer expectations for TV across devices, the TV industry is moving through a rapid transformation and finding new ways to bring TV to whatever screen audiences want to watch.”
Additional findings include:
- Access points: With 43 percent market share iOS apps are now the leading access points for watching TV online. Browsers fell behind with a 36 percent share while Android apps garnered 15 percent. Game consoles and OTT devices saw the strongest share growth YoY with 539 percent resulting in a six percent market share.
- Content consumption: TV Everywhere content consumption grew 246 percent YoY, excluding data from the Sochi Olympics, a major TV Everywhere event in Q1. Eighty percent of children’s content was viewed on iOS apps while browsers drove the majority (50 percent) of news-focused videos.
- Reach: Twenty-one percent of pay-TV households in the U.S. accessed TV Everywhere content across devices in Q1 compared to just 16 percent six months ago. Ninety-five TV channels now power more than 160 TV Everywhere sites and apps in the U.S., 30 more channels than six months ago.
- Frequency: The number of unique TV Everywhere visitors to websites and apps per month increased by 157 percent YoY, while the number of TV Everywhere streams (live, VOD and linear) watched per visitor each month increased 133 percent YoY. iOS apps drove 9.2 video streams on average per visitor each month (5.1 videos in Q1 2013) and Android apps came in second with 9.6 streams (3.9 in Q1 2013). Game consoles and OTT devices drove 7.2 streams (2.1 in Q1 2013) while browsers had the lowest number with 5.5 streams per visitor (2.4 in Q1 2013).
- Online video content (non-authenticated) consumption: Using a sample size of over 1300 Adobe Marketing Cloud customers, 35.6 billion online videos including user-generated content were watched worldwide, a new record and a 43 percent increase YoY. Twenty-five percent of all online videos were consumed across smartphones and tablets, a 57 percent YoY increase.