FOSTER CITY, Calif.—The upward trend of streaming continued into the third quarter of 2020, as Conviva has reported that overall viewing time for streaming was up 57% in Q3 year-over-year. This was part of Conviva’s quarterly “State of Streaming” report, which also touched on the return of advertising in Q3, the use of smart TVs and streaming of the NFL.
Of the overall viewing time for streaming, 55% of it was done on connected TV devices like Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV or Chromecast in Q3. Roku led the way with 47.7% share of connected TV device use, followed by Amazon Fire TV at 27.6%. However, Conviva notes that this is the first time that connected TV devices did not keep pace with overall streaming growth (57%), which Conviva says is due to more viewers streaming within their TV’s native app rather than an external device.
This use of smart TVs (i.e. Samsung, LG, Vizio) for streaming shot up 200% in overall viewing time in Q3, per Conviva, nearly doubling their share over the past year—14.8% now vs. 7.7% in Q3 2019.
What people are watching through streaming is also changing, including for one of traditional TVs key areas, sports. Conviva reported that fans watching NFL games over streaming increased 41% year-over-year. Daytime games saw an increase of 63% for streaming, while primetime games were up 32% from 2019.
Still, a majority (70%) are streaming the games on a big screen TV. Overall, TV still leads the way for NFL viewership, making up 67%, with mobile at 13% and PC at 6%.
As for advertising, the third quarter marked the return of ad demand, thanks in part to the return of live sports. Q3 saw a 22% increase in impressions as a result of a 14% increase in ad attempts and a 22% decrease in failed ad attempts. Conviva also found that ad quality improved in Q3, with time spent waiting for ads to buffer down 28%, as well as an 11% increase in picture quality.
For more information on Conviva’s “State of Streaming” report for Q3 2020, visit www.conviva.com.
