The total number of VOD plays continued growing globally in 2022, yet the time that users spend daily on each service took another hit as the streaming market became increasingly saturated. In fact, streaming adoption keeps increasing to the detriment of traditional TV, but the growing abundance of services means viewers spend increasingly less time on each platform, according to NPAW’s “2022 Video Industry Streaming Report.”
The investigation revealed that after a 9% year-over-year decrease in 2021, the global Avg. Daily Playtime per User and Service dropped 12% when compared to the previous year. This decline took place progressively throughout the year, with no big leaps from one quarter to the other.
The Middle East was by far the region where daily consumption per user decreased the most (-21%), followed at a distance by Asia (-11%) and Europe (-6%). Despite decreasing by 4% year-over-year, daily user engagement per service in North America grew quarter-over-quarter, suggesting the region might be on the way to experiencing a recovery in 2023. The Pacific was the region with the highest Avg. Daily Playtime per User and Service (86 min), with North America coming a close second (80 min). Asia remains the territory where users spend the least time a day on each service (30 min).
“In conclusion, 2022 showed that consumers globally are watching less and less VOD content a day per streaming service. Despite the fact that more and more viewers are choosing online video for their entertainment needs, the large amount of services available makes it harder for each streaming service to maintain high user engagement levels,” the report noted.
● BIG SCREENS CAPTURED A BIGGER PIECE OF THE VOD PIE
When it comes to the user engagement levels for each type of device, the share of total plays of smartphones and TVs took 70% of the VOD pie combined. Smartphones were still on top (37%) as the most popular device, but they lost share to big screens. While the smartphone’s share declined 7 points, that of TVs and set top-boxes increased by 6 and 2 points, respectively.
● LINEAR TV ENGAGEMENT DROPPED
Meanwhile, although the total number of plays grew globally in 2022 compared to 2021, the Avg. Daily Playtime per User and Service for linear TV decreased by 23% year-over-year in 2022. The effects of increased competition between services were thus felt more deeply across linear TV content than in VOD.
Daily consumption per user and service decreased the most in the Middle East (-29%) and the Pacific (-27%), followed by Asia (-22%). In absolute numbers, North America was where users spent the most time on average watching linear TV on each streaming service (66 min), followed by Europe (64 min). As in the case of VOD, Asia was the region with the lowest daily consumption per service (23 min).