Global streaming viewing time was up 14% in the second quarter of 2022, the most year over year since the first quarter of 2021, according to Conviva’s latest “State of Streaming Q2 2022” report.
Asia saw the largest year over year increase at 90%, while Latin America saw the second biggest increase at 70%, followed by Oceania at 26% and Africa at 22%. Meanwhile, North America, which has seen single-digit growth for the past year, continued that trend with a modest 5% increase in streaming viewing hours. Europe was up slightly compared to last quarter at 20%.
These year over year numbers come two years after the largest increase in streaming hours globally ever recorded during the beginning of the pandemic. “These consistent growth numbers in places like America and Europe show a maturing marketplace, while Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Oceania provide massive growth opportunities,” the report says.
● HOW THE WORLD STREAMS
The majority of the world’s streaming hours happen on big screens, but every region does it a little bit differently. Globally, Smart TVs, Connected TV devices and gaming consoles totaled 76.7% of all viewing hours. Mobile phones captured the third-largest share by device at 11.3% globally, followed by desktops at 7.1%, gaming consoles at 6.8%, and tablets at 4.8%.
North America tallied the largest share of big-screen viewing at 82.1% with both Smart TVs and Connected TV devices tied for market share at 37.6%. North America also boasted the highest share of viewing hours of connected TV Devices and the smallest share of desktop streaming.
Latin America ranked second in big-screen TV viewing, with Smart TVs capturing the largest share at 43.3%. Interestingly, Latin America ranked last among connected TV device viewing share when comparing all regions, with a share of 22.7%. This region also ranked ahead of the global average for share on mobile devices and desktop computers at 15.7% and 10.9%, respectively.
Europe’s biggest share of viewing occurred on connected TV devices, which charted at 32.8%. The region also streamed more on tablets than any other region, with an industry high of 9.5% share of viewing. Meanwhile, Oceania was the only region that had double-digit share in five different screen-type categories., and it was also the only region to have more than 10% of their viewing hours in game consoles at 11.3%.
Africa had one of the most evenly distributed screen share results, with a near-equal share for mobile phones and desktop computers at 19%. Connected TV devices were the most popular device for streaming in the region at 31% share. Notably, Africa had the largest share of streaming on desktop computers at 18.6% compared to all other regions.
Lastly, Asia, most notably, was the only region where the majority of streaming did not occur on big-screen devices. Mobile phones, tablets, and desktops accounted for 54.7% of all streaming hours in the region, which included an industry high of 41.8% of streaming hours on mobile devices. Asia also accounted for an industry low of 20.4% of streaming hours from Smart TVs.