Streaming grew 10% globally in the first quarter, with consumption continuing to shaft to big screens, particularly smart TVs, according to a new report from Conviva.
Big screens accounted for 77% of viewing, with 34% of big screen viewing taking place on smart TV.
The shift is eating into the connected TV device business, which was down 1%.
Roku remained the most-used device with a 31% share of viewing. Amazon Fire was No. 2 at 16%.
In the U.S., which Conviva termed a mature market, streaming was up 5% in the first quarter.
“Despite recent news of Netflix’s subscriber contraction, streaming continues to grow worldwide, encompassing an ever-growing stable of platforms offering unique and original content,” said Conviva CEO Keith Zubchevich. “In mature markets like the US and Europe, viewers are upscreening from small devices to Smart TVs, setting the foundation for streaming to overtake linear TV on the big screen”.
Conviva said that the quality of streaming picture was better, with buffering down about 2% and video start failure down 17.6%.
After a quarter that saw remarkable advertising delays and increased buffering, streaming advertising bounced back in the first quarter, Conviva said.
Ad impressions were up 18% and ad attempts were up 14%, thanks mostly to big Q1 sporting events like March Madness, the Super Bowl, and the Winter Olympics.
“Live events, especially sports, are a massive driver of streaming, and where there are large audiences, increases in advertising follow,” the report said.
“In another bright spot for streaming advertising, there were significant improvements in ad quality, as well,” Conviva said. “Ad buffering experienced a 17% improvement from Q4 2021. Bitrate increased 16%, missed opportunities were down 12%, and failed attempts were also down 16%. All and all, it was a much better quarter for streaming advertising, both in terms of impressions and quality.”
Conviva’s data is primarily collected using proprietary sensor technology with a global footprint of more than 500 million unique viewers watching 200 billion streams per year across nearly 4 billion applications streaming on devices.
In Conviva’s State of Streaming report, the year-over-year data from Q1 2022 as compared to Q1 2021 was normalized based on Conviva’s customer base. ■
