Liberty Media chairman John Malone recently issued a harsh assessment that “TV Everywhere is TV no where,” but recent numbers show that authenticated video viewing is starting to take off.
TV Everywhere viewing grew by 282% in the first quarter of 2015, versus the year-ago quarter, according to a new online video report from Adobe Digital Index that based its findings on more than 200 billion online video starts and 2.8 billion TVE authentications for “premium video content.”
Adobe said the surge in authenticated viewing can’t be attributed to tent-pole, one-off events such as the FIFA Women’s World Cup, noting that TVE is now starting to see broader, organic growth.
Adobe also found that over-the-top devices such as Apple TV boxes and gaming consoles now represent one in every four TVE authentications.
Per Adobe’s findings, the Apple TV doubled its share of premium video viewing in the span of just one quarter — growing from 5% in the fourth quarter of 2014, to 10% in the first quarter of 2015, enough to overtake Roku. Adobe attributed that in part to the recent price drop on the Apple TV (from $99 to $69) and access to additional programming, including HBO Now, HBO’s new standalone streaming service.
On a broader platform basis, Apple’s iOS represented 47% of premium video viewing in the first quarter, up from 43% a year earlier, while Android remained flat, at 15%. Viewing premium video via a Web browser sunk to a new low: 14%.
The study also found that iOS devices such as the iPad and iPhone were responsible for 24% of unauthenticated viewing, enough to lead the category.
Tracking the Rise of the Broadband/OTT Bundle
Authenticated TV Everywhere services were developed in part to head off the cord-cutting trend, but a new study from Parks Research shows that TVE has not stopped a small and growing batch of consumers from bundling broadband with over-the-top video services while shunning traditional pay TV.
Offering a fresh view of that trend, about 7% of U.S. homes now subscribe to broadband and an over-the-top video service, but don’t take a TV service from a cable operator or another multichannel video programming distributor, Parks Associates found in a new study, TV Everywhere and the New World of OTT.
Parks Associates said that figure includes consumers who have cut the pay TV cord, or have never subscribed to a pay TV service.
The firm said this trend is causing multichannel video programming distributors, such as Dish Network, to launch OTT services with a slimmed-down TV lineup that appeal to consumers who don’t want pay TV. It’s also opening the door to fuller-freight offerings such as Sony’s PlayStation Vue.
“The OTT video services marketplace continues its rapid rate of change, impacting the video ecosystem across world markets,” Brett Sappington, director of research at Parks Associates, said in a statement. “While operator attempts at TV Everywhere have made little impact, OTT video services are experiencing a boom.”
Parks Associates said 57% of U.S. broadband homes now subscribe to an OTT video service, compared to 57% in the U.K., 29% in Spain, and 24% in Germany.
Even as traditional pay TV subscriber growth tapers off, the research firm is forecasting that OTT video service subscription revenue will rise from nearly $9 billion in 2014, to over $19 billion in 2019.
