In an annual census of “billions” of premium video publisher apps, Conviva — a company that aides OTT [over-the-top] businesses use data-driven intelligence — found viewing hours of Internet-delivered video across mobile, connected TVs and desktop screens grew by 114% in the first quarter of 2018 over the same period last year, with the total viewing hours reaching nearly five billion. And the Apple TV saw 709% growth in viewing hours over the first quarter of 2017.
“Because the complexity and viewership of our customers’ services are growing so fast, they can no longer rely on a sample-set of thousands when they are dealing with billions,” says Dr. Hui Zhang, co-founder and CEO of Conviva. “Things have changed quite a bit since Nielsen assembled a panel of viewers to analyze television. Conviva’s all-screen census measurement approach provides a unique perspective for understanding the dynamic landscape of viewership, content consumption and user experience across Internet streaming services.”
The data captured covers quantities like number of streams played, viewing hours, devices and regions, as well as quality metrics like video start time, buffering time and bit rate. These metrics are the key KPIs for the world’s largest OTT publishers looking to deliver perfect streaming experiences for their viewers.
In this first quarterly report, Conviva found that although viewers worldwide are flocking to internet streaming, North America has experienced the largest increase – with a 174% growth in viewing hours. This shows North American viewers continue to lead the transition from traditional TV to next-generation streaming services.
More and more content is being consumed on mobile devices and internet-connected TVs, as witnessed by the year-over-year growth of in-app viewing versus browser-based viewing. The report supports what Conviva is calling the “appification” of TV, and found that app-based plays grew four times faster than browser-based viewing on personal computers. The number of viewing hours via apps grew 136% since last year.
One of the many complexities of delivering video over the internet is the wide range of devices consumers use to stream. As mentioned, in the first quarter of 2018, Conviva found that Apple TV saw 709% growth in viewing hours over the first quarter of 2017, based on the dynamic nature of the market and Conviva’s customer base, outpacing all other devices by almost two times.
During the same period, while total viewing hours on Roku devices saw a rise of 87%, its overall share of total viewing hours dropped by 3%. Viewership on mobile devices also evolved in the first quarter of 2018, with viewing hours on Android growing two-and-a-half times faster than on iOS devices.
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