Samsung, LG, Vizio and other top smart TV manufacturers are seeing their native apps and platforms growing share of streaming viewership, according to Conviva.
The media analytics firm’s latest State of Streaming report – which uses proprietary sensor technology embedded in three billion streaming video applications – found that more consumers are opting to stream video directly through their smart TVs rather than with a connected TV device like Roku or Amazon Fire TV.
During the third quarter, smart TV streaming apps were up 200% in viewing time as smart TVs nearly doubled share over the past year, up to 14.8% from 7.7% in the third quarter of 2019.
Conviva said that connected TV devices still dominated streaming viewership in third quarter with 50% share of global viewing time. Among them, Roku remained the market leader and accounted for nearly half of the total connected TV viewing time in the quarter at 47.7% share. Amazon Fire TV finished the quarter with 27.6%.
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However, Conviva said that for the first time, connected TV devices did not keep pace with overall streaming growth – 55% versus 57%.
As streaming share shifts slightly, overall growth in streaming viewership is resulting in bigger streaming sports audiences and more ad dollars.
“Streaming has exploded in the past year as illustrated by content like the NFL which saw 41% growth on streaming and remained relatively flat on linear TV,” said Conviva CEO Bill Demas in a statement. “As a result, we are seeing more investment in streaming services, advertisers shifting to streaming platforms and consumers adopting streaming-enabled devices and TVs at a rapid pace.”
Conviva said the third quarter saw a 22% increase in impressions thanks to a 14% increase in ad attempts and a 22% decrease in failed ad attempts. The firm also said ad quality improved with time spent waiting for ads to buffer down 28% and an 11% increase in picture quality.