Do you remember last fall, when the season premieres of some of our favorite shows beckoned for us to find out what would happen next after the previous season’s cliffhanger? Do you remember anxiously trying to get home in time for the start of it, or finding ways to rearrange your schedule around it? Chances are, you didn’t even sweat it.
According to Adobe Digital Index’s “Q4 Digital Video Benchmark” report, overall growth in TV Everywhere video viewing doubled year-over-year. In other words, people are enjoying their freedom to watch television on their own terms, whenever and wherever they want.
Cable content and broadcast in particular experienced the highest TV Everywhere growth at 111 percent year-over-year, which ADI attributes to audiences’ preferences to watch Fall TV premieres and seasonal programming events at a time that is most convenient for them, as opposed to when the program airs live. You can breathe easy and turn on that season premiere once your crazy schedule calms down a bit.
And if sports are your thing, you probably contributed to the overall growth of the TV-watching on-the-go movement. Along with TV premieres, ADI reports that sports-related content helped drive TV Everywhere consumption last year.
So how are people watching their favorite sports and shows? Most likely, on a TV connected device. ADI’s study looked at the growth of TV Connected Device share, which experienced a 31 percent growth year-over-year. Roku in particular saw a 14 percent spike quarter-over-quarter when new channels were added last Fall.
The amount of TV Everywhere active users also increased 22 percent last year quarter-over-quarter. Compare that to previous quarters, which had been in the 12-14 percent range. This just goes to show that TV Everywhere viewing isn’t slowing down any time soon. More and more people are taking charge of their TV consumption habits and making the shift towards the new, alternative way of watching television.