Smart TVs' Share of Streaming Hours Grew in Q4, Says Conviva

Consumers spent 44% more time streaming in Q4 than in the prior-year quarter, said a recent Conviva report. Roku led streaming platforms with a 31% share, followed by Amazon Fire TV (19%) and Samsung smart TVs (10%), it said. Overall, smart TVs led in viewing hour growth, logging a 157% increase vs. the year-ago quarter, it said. Connected TV device viewing hours rose 38%, but share gave way slightly to smart TVs, dropping from 51% to 49% year on year. Viewing on game consoles rose 16%.

Big screens dominated in engagement in Q4, while viewing times spent on mobile devices and desktop PCs shrank. Among connected devices, Chromecast had the longest watch time at 35.5 minutes per play, followed by Roku at 33.3 minutes. Average viewing time per play on mobile phones was 8.6 minutes.

Overall streaming video quality continued to improve in Q4, with 18% higher picture quality and 1% improvement in video start failures, time spent waiting for buffering and video start times, said Conviva. Streaming quality on handheld and desktop devices fell significantly in the quarter, with smartphones having a 20% spike in buffering, 19% bump in video start failures and 5% longer start times. Desktop PCs and tablets also got worse in buffering and start times. Gaming consoles delivered the most streaming quality progress, with 26% less buffering, 12% faster start time, 3% fewer start failures and 3% higher picture quality.

Streaming ad impressions increased 31% in the quarter, but quality issues continue to “plague advertisers,” said the report. About 40% of ads didn’t deliver as expected, though the report cited general improvement in quality: Viewers experienced 14% less buffering, 4% higher picture quality and 2% less time waiting for ads to load, said the report.

Despite data showing viewers are more likely to abandon longer ads, ad length stretched 12% in Q4 to 31.5 seconds on average. The 30-second ad has been the standard, but viewers have hoped for 15-second ads on streaming channels. An increasing number of ads are running a minute or more, said the report. Advertisers “ignore viewer preferences at their own peril, as the longer the ad, the more viewers will abandon the commercial and subsequent content,” it said.

In social media, trends that emerged from Q4 2019-20 will "set the state for an active 2021," said Conviva. "The reliance on social media as a primary news and entertainment source … has triggered dramatic shifts in where brands are building and growing their respective audiences," said the report. An analysis of entertainment, media, brands and sports accounts revealed YouTube as the only platform seeing an audience increase for all four categories. Data was collected from Conviva’s sensor technology embedded in 3.3 billion streaming video applications, measuring over 500 million unique viewers watching 180 billion streams per year in more than 180 countries.