Latin America. Adobe released its Video Benchmark Report, which looks at TV Everywhere and other unauthenticated online video trends. Key findings from the Adobe Digital Index report show that more people watched more TV online than ever before.
TV consumption across devices grew 388% year-over-year (year-on-year) and networks saw wider usage including monthly unique viewers, which increased 146% year-over-year, across browsers and TV apps. While online TV consumption remains fragmented across platforms, gaming consoles and over-the-top (OTT) devices gained the largest share of the market, while Android apps overtook desktop browsers as access points for watching TV online.
Adobe's Video Benchmark Report is the most comprehensive report of its kind in the industry. The findings are based on aggregated, anonymized data from more than 1,300 media and entertainment outlets using Adobe Marketing Cloud and Adobe Primetime. The report includes 165 billion online video startups and 1.53 billion TV Everywhere authentications across 250 pay-TV service providers covering 99% of pay-TV households in the U.S. The analysis also examined TV Everywhere content across 105 TV channels and more than 300 apps and TV sites.
"Users' content consumption habits are changing rapidly," said Jeremy Helfand, adobe's vice president of Primetime. "Viewers expect more personalized, uncompromising viewing experiences across an increasing number of devices and channels; that's why media companies and advertisers must transform their digital strategies to optimize the visual experience."
Other findings include:
- Online TV consumption: TV consumption across devices grew 388% year-over-year, driven in part by the World Cup, a major online TV event this summer. Broadcast and cable networks with direct-to-consumer offerings for online TV saw their monthly audience grow by 146% year-over-year across all online TV channels, while the amount of online TV content viewed per viewer grew by 55% year-over-year. 105 online TV channels power more than 300 online TV sites and apps in the US.
- Fragmentation of Platforms. Of all device types, gaming consoles and OTT devices had the largest increase in market share (194% year-over-year), now accounting for 10% of all online TV consumption above the 3% reported in 2013. The market share of online TV for Android apps grew by 20%, an increase of 28% that surpassed browsers, whose market share was reduced to 19% representing a decrease of 41% year-on-year. iOS apps still hold the market share leadership at 51%.
- Online TV Content: For the first time, watching movies online surpassed sports content. Movie networks saw the strongest gain in viewing frequency with a 125% increase over the previous year going from two movies to 4.5 movies on average per month. Broadcast and cable networks saw an 81% year-over-year increase for episodic content viewed each month. Viewers watched 4.2 sporting events on sports networks, a modest monthly increase of 31%.
- Online Video Content (unauthenticated): For the first time, online video viewing on smartphones (14% share) outpaced tablets (13% share). Gaming consoles and OTT devices accounted for the highest market share growth with 127% year-over-year. Viewers watched videos from desktops longer and were 3 times more likely to finish 75% of the content. Only 17% of videos viewed from phones were viewed to the end by 75%.
