BARCELONA—Viewers worldwide viewed more on demand and linear TV than in the previous two years, according to NPAW’s 2023 Video Streaming Industry Report released this week.
The amount of time the average user spends watching content per day increased globally in 2023 by 12% for VoD and 4% for Linear TV content. This pivot might signal an increase in consumption or a shift in the consumers' attention toward a more selective number of platforms, according to the researcher.
Previously, NPAW had blamed declines in VOD and linear TV on fragmentation in the streaming market but growth in Connected TV sales and “Quality of Experience” helped revive the sector in 2023, the researcher said.
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The most notable finding of the report is the consolidation, in the second semester of the year, of the upward trend in daily user engagement for VoD and Linear TV, at 4% and 3% respectively, NPAW noted. Episodic content continued to dominate as the primary type of VoD content for another year, capturing 67% of the total global playtime. However, movies saw a slight increase, accounting for 26% of all VoD minutes streamed in 2023.
Additionally, 2023 was also a year of significant improvements in the Quality of Experience front, both globally, with a global decrease of 38% in the buffering ratio, and regionally, with regions like Asia experiencing an 18% increase in the average bitrate. These boosts signal that there is still room for optimization of the viewing experience.
At the device level, the growth in Smart TV sales helped drive up total playtime by up to 8 percentage points. NPAW concludes that this reaffirms that consumers overwhelmingly prefer big-screen experiences when streaming video content, reserving smaller-screen devices like smartphones for casual streaming or while on the move.
"These findings underscore a significant year of renewal and growth for the streaming sector. The increase of up to 12% in daily playtime per user, coupled with tangible improvements in the Quality of Experience, highlights how the industry is consolidating and evolving to meet and exceed viewer expectations," said Ferran G. Vilaró, CEO and Co-Founder of NPAW.
"As providers navigate this journey of optimization, leveraging deep end-user behavior and experience data will be crucial in capturing the attention and loyalty of consumers. Understanding the insights derived from NPAW’s 2023 Video Streaming Industry Report will play a pivotal role in shaping successful streaming strategies moving forward." Vilaró added.
The data analyzed in the report were extracted from the NPAW Suite from January to December 2023 and compared to data from 2022. They represent real-time data from over 190 global NPAW clients, including leading OTT providers, broadcasters, and telecom operators.
The report can be downloaded here.
