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.
