TV Everywhere (online TV) is more everywhere than ever -- up almost 250 percent year-over-year from the first quarter of 2013, according to Adobe's Q1 2014 Video Benchmark Report.
TV Everywhere refers to customers using cable networks to port video and television content through their Internet provider (frequently the same company) to their desktop and laptop computers, smartphones and tablets. This content conduits through apps designed to control access and settings for streaming to the computer or device.
The TV Everywhere concept includes viewing television content on mobile devices (smartphones and tablets), desktop and laptop computers and gaming consoles.
Adobe found that online video consumption across mobile devices is at a peak level of 25 percent, which represents a 57 percent year-over-year share growth from first quarter 2013 to first quarter 2014.
The first quarter of 2014 also set a new record with 35.6 billion global online video starts, which is a 43 percent year-over-year increase. Gaming consoles and OTT devices (OTT is Over The Top, alluding to devices such as a DVD player, DVR box or "Smart TV" that can access and stream content from a wireless network to a television set) are the fastest-growing devices for online video, with a 123 percent year-over-year increase. Next up is smartphone online video starts, which grew 48 percent, then tablets, with growth of 16 percent.
The Adobe Digital Index (ADI) report reveals Apple iOS apps were the gateway for 9.2 video starts per user in January 2014 against 5.1 for January 2013. Android apps delivered 9.6 starts against 3.9 in that same January year-to-year window. Gaming consoles and OTT came in at 7.2 and 2.1 per user. The old standby, web browsers, were utilized at 5.5 and 2.4.
"We were surprised to see iOS app access take over the lead in terms of most commonly used device to access TV Everywhere," said Joe Martin, lead analyst for video at ADI. "The other surprise was that the percentage of households using TV Everywhere jumped from 16% to 21% in just the past six months. Sports viewing plays a pivotal role in getting new users to access digital video, so with the World Cup coming, we expect to see another big jump when we do our Q2 report."
TV Everywhere is being accessed primarily through iOS apps on tablets and smartphones (43 percent); browsers (36 percent, down from 47 percent in 2013); through Android apps (15 percent); and gaming consoles and OTT devices (6 percent combined).
