Streaming Video Quality Way Up But Not for Ads, Says Conviva
Good news for viewers: streaming video quality is improving. Conviva has released its Q3 2019 State of Streaming report, and the latest findings show improvements in video quality. Year-over-year, video start failures are down 10%, video start times are 6% faster, buffering is down by a big 33%, and picture quality is 3% better.
"As streaming providers compete against the seamless delivery of linear television, viewer expectations demand linear quality from their streams without failures, delays, buffering, or poor picture quality," the report says. "Streaming providers, along with many industry stakeholders, have continued to invest in technology, redundancies, and oversight to make this a reality. In Q3 they delivered large improvements to that end."
But these improvements only apply to content videos. For video ads, quality is poor. In Q3 2019, 39.6% of all video ad plays failed, while long start times were common. These problems are costing publishers views, as 9 to 20% of all viewers quit watching every time an ad comes up.
The report also looks at TV streaming device use and finds Roku still the major player. Roku owns 44% of market share and saw a 73% increase in viewing time. Amazon Fire TV is next with 20% market share, although its viewing time increased faster—by 78%. Apple TV follows with 9% market share.
Conviva's data comes from a proprietary sensor embedded in 3 billion video apps, which measure over 100 billion global streams per year. Ad data comes from an analysis of almost 10 billion ad attempts in Q3.
Related Articles
Viewing time was up 279% over the 2018 opening ceremony, with impressive start times, fewer failures, and less buffering, according to the media intelligence firm.
30 Jul 2021
In the COVID-19 era, the right approach can check both boxes, and decisions made in response to the current demand on bandwidth can have long-term business advantages for OTT services
15 Apr 2020
Viewing in the U.S. is up almost 27%, and daytime viewing is up most of all—a massive 39% rise since the first week of March.
31 Mar 2020
Any good compressionist needs tools to help reveal critical data about encoded files, from codecs and resolution to GOP structure and quality levels. Here's a look at some of the most useful.
18 Mar 2020
Ad start failures are down, but start times and buffering actually got worse compared to 2018. But overal streaming continues to grow, and quality of experience is better than ever.
07 Feb 2020
"We want to be the defacto standard for video processing, workflow automation, and quality management," says Telestream CEO Scott Puopolo.
16 Sep 2019
Across all streaming devices, on-demand video viewing times are growing at a faster rate than live viewing times, finds a Conviva quarterly report.
07 Aug 2019
The study finds a direct correlation between Story length and reach, with longer Stories doing better. Stories with 15 to 25 frames enjoy the best reach.
25 Jul 2019
Ad delivery problems can lead to major revenue losses. That's why Conviva is launching a service that monitors ad performance.
09 Jan 2019