What They Say
Despite the long term trend towards consumption of video on mobile devices, Conviva’s State of Streaming Q4 2020 report shows 75% of all viewing time via connected devices was watched on big screens.
Within the TV category, streaming devices dominated nearly 50% share of viewing time in Q4. Preferred devices for streaming include Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Chromecast. According to the report, TV devices did uncharacteristically yield some market share for the second quarter in a row, dropping to 49.1% share from 51% share the previous Q4, as the category’s 38% growth was outpaced by overall growth at 44%.
While media players remain the favourite way to stream on big screens by most people, Smart TVs saw a big jump in popularity, nearly doubling their share up to 16.9% from 9.4% the previous Q4. That means more viewers are starting to watch within their TV’s native app vs. an external device. Samsung, LG, and Vizio were among the top growing Smart TVs.
Gaming consoles are declining in popularity when it comes to using them as a way to stream content on the big screen. Gaming consoles like Xbox and PlayStation enjoyed the smallest advance, up just 16%, and declining in share to 9.1% of global viewing time from 11.3% during the same time last Q4.
What We Think
It has taken a long time for SmartTVs to get good enough to make them a preferred experience for users. I would use my Panasonic TV, which is OK, but have some issues with eArc and have not got around to sorting them out, so I’m still using a Roku dongle, although my wife likes using our Blu-ray player for streaming.
It’s not surprising that mobile viewing has gone down in the last year, but the real test will be when the lockdowns are over and people start to spend reasonable time outside the home again. (BR)
