While smartphones and tablets are popular as streaming devices, new data from Plume shows that for major sporting events, the TV “big screen” still dominates.
Plume draws monthly insights, leveraging its more than 1.3 billion Wi-Fi-enabled devices connected and over 35 million locations managed in the Plume Cloud.
It’s latest Plume IQ report, released Thursday, shows data consumption was up double-digits during February’s Super Bowl game across most streaming-enabled devices, compared to typical day consumption in the U.S. But as the Los Angeles Rams triumphed against the Cincinnati Bengals on February 13, smart TVs saw the biggest jump, with data consumption on Super Bowl Sunday up 31% for TVs. That compares to a 20% bump for set-top boxes and tablets, 11% for smartphones, and 9% for game consoles.
As for the brands leading increased consumption, Sony-branded devices led the pack with data consumption increasing 44% over a typical Sunday. Samsung was next in line with a 40% spike, followed by LG at 38% and Apple branded streaming devices up 32%.
“We are very excited to conclude that, despite with the vast number of more personalized small screen streaming devices we see across Plume-powered networks, our data suggests that major sporting events are still about the big screen social experience for many smart home users” said Bill McFarland, CTO at Plume, in a statement.
In a recent column for Fierce Video, Paul Erickson, senior analyst at Parks Associates, highlighted that “smart TVs have become the streaming device of choice for most consumers.”
Parks Associate data showed that smart TV adoption in broadband homes stayed consistent in 2021 at around 55%-56%.
The NFL, meanwhile, might be planning to create its own streaming service, dubbed NFL+. News of the potential new subscription streaming service surfaced earlier this week, which said it could include NFL games as well as podcasts and other league content. Exactly when a NFL streaming service might become a reality isn’t clear yet.