Video Streaming Minutes Up Globally, but Start Times Widen: Conviva

Streaming grew 5% year on year in North America in Q1 and 9% in Europe, with big-screen TVs getting 77% of streamed minutes globally in the quarter, Conviva reported Thursday. Smart TV viewing time grew by 34% year on year in Q1, while desktop PCs and gaming consoles had a 15% decline, it said. Connected TV device viewing slipped 1%, with Roku having 31% of viewing time vs. Amazon Fire at 16%, said the report. Android TV had 78% more minutes streamed in Q1 vs. the prior-year quarter; LG, Samsung and Vizio were all up about 20%, it said. Globally, bitrate improved by 17.3% year on year, buffering was down 1% and video start failures dropped 17.6%, but video start rates grew, with the wait time consumers experienced for a video to start up in every region. Africa was at 8 seconds; Europe had the fastest start time at an average 4 seconds, it said. Ad impressions were up 18%, driven by high-profile sporting events: the Super Bowl, Winter Olympics and NCAA March Madness. Streaming on social media platforms is growing as a way for leagues to engage fans, Conviva said. TikTok grew its streaming audience share for every sports league measured, it said. The NFL had 4% viewership growth on TikTok year on year, and the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals gained over 100,000 TikTok followers during the Super Bowl weekend, it said.