New Conviva Data Shows Significant Drop in Ad Demand Despite Quality Improvements; Streaming Growth Normalizing After Pandemic Peak
Conviva, the leader in global streaming media intelligence, released its quarterly State of Streaming report for Q2 2020 today, showing streaming video advertising saw a sharp decline in the past quarter with ad attempts in Q2 down 28% globally and 22% in the U.S. as compared to Q1 2020. The report also details the impact of COVID-19 with expanded regional benchmarks illustrating that while streaming continues to grow overall, it slowed in May and June as compared to its height in April when shelter-in-place orders drove streaming viewing up 81% year over year.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200806005191/en/
Conviva's State of Streaming Q2 Report (Graphic: Business Wire)
Ad Demand Drops while Quality Improves
While advertising demand dropped in Q2, due in part to a lack of sports, streaming ads saw significant improvements in overall quality. Viewers spent 38% less time waiting for an ad to start in Q2 as compared to Q1 and as a result, pre-ad viewer-initiated exits dropped 22%. Ad picture quality also improved, with bitrate up 53%.
Despite quality improvements, nearly 45% of ads represented missed opportunities. The most common advertising issue continues to be the lack of demand as publishers try to fill ad slots, but no relevant ad is available.
“Shelter-in-place mandates skyrocketed streaming viewership in April, led by Europe which saw a 174% increase year over year,” said Bill Demas, CEO, Conviva. “Unfortunately advertising moved in the opposite direction with global demand significantly reduced due to COVID-19. We expect advertising to bounce back in the coming quarters as the industry and viewers acclimate to a ‘new normal’ including streaming being part of the everyday routine.”
Streaming Device Growth: TV Sees Triple Digit Increase
Conviva uncovered significant increases in viewing as people tuned in natively within their smart TVs. Global share of smart TV viewing more than doubled as viewing time increased 239% year over year. Also bolstering television viewing were connected TV devices (Roku, Amazon Fire TV, etc.) which saw a 61% increase and game consoles a 55% increase in time spent streaming year over year.
Global device share in Q2 2020 included:
- Smart TVs: Samsung commanded half of all viewing time via smart TV, followed by LG TVs with 23%, Vizio TVs with 11%, Android TVs with 8% and Amazon Fire TVs with 7%.
- Connected TV Devices: Roku remained the leader among connected TV devices, capturing half of the total viewing time for the category. Amazon Fire TV captured 29%, Apple TV 8.7%, Chromecast 7.3%, Android TV 3.6% and Humax 1.3%.
- Gaming Consoles: PlayStation bested Xbox in streaming viewership at slightly over 50% of viewing time versus Xbox’s 47%.
Connected TV devices had the largest share of viewing time in both North America (56%) and Europe (32%). In South America smart TVs (40%) has the largest share of viewing time, while in Asia (49%) and Africa (43%) desktops remain the primary streaming device.
Viewers Embrace YouTube on Bigger Screens
YouTube is primarily watched on mobile devices which captured 59% share of time spent in Q2 2020. However, the trend towards TVs also impacted YouTube as viewing on connected TVs and consoles accounted for a 25% share of YouTube viewing in Q2 2020, a 69% increase from 16% share the prior Q2.
Socializing Sports with No Sports
On social media, North American professional sports bottomed out in June, with social engagements by sports teams down more than 71% from their 2020 low in January while European professional sports teams increased their social engagements by 64% in June as compared to their 2020 low in April. A notable bright spot for North American leagues on social was the NFL Draft in late April, as the NFL teams surpassed NBA teams in total engagements for the only time during the year.
Methodology
Data for Conviva’s State of Streaming report was primarily collected from Conviva’s proprietary sensor technology currently embedded in three billion streaming video applications, measuring in excess of 500 million unique viewers watching 150 billion streams per year with 1.5 trillion real-time transactions per day across more than 180 countries. Year-over-year comparisons were normalized at the customer level for accurate representations of industry growth. The social data is comprised of data from over 1200 accounts, over 5 million posts and over 7 billion engagements across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
About Conviva
Conviva is the leader in streaming media intelligence, powered by its real-time platform. More than 250 industry leaders and brands – including CBS, CCTV, Cirque Du Soleil, DAZN, Disney+, HBO, Hulu, Sky, Sling TV, TED, Univision, and WarnerMedia – rely on Conviva to maximize their consumer engagement, deliver the quality experiences viewers expect, and drive revenue growth. With a global footprint of more than 500 million unique viewers watching 150 billion streams per year across 3 billion applications streaming on devices, Conviva offers streaming providers unmatched scale for continuous video measurement, intelligence, and benchmarking across every stream, every screen, every second.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200806005191/en/
Contact information
Paula Winkel
pwinkel@conviva.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
EIG Acquires a 49.87% Stake in Transportadora de Gas del Perú (TgP)19.12.2025 19:42:00 EET | Press release
EIG, through its managed investment vehicles, acquired a 49.87% equity stake in Transportadora de Gas del Perú S.A. (“TgP”) from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board today. TgP operates Peru’s principal natural gas and natural gas liquids pipelines under a long-term concession, supplying approximately 40% of the country’s power generation. “We are delighted to complete this transaction and embark on the next chapter of our partnership with TgP,” said Matt Hartman, EIG’s Global Head of Infrastructure. “Our priority is to support TgP’s operational excellence and long-term stability, delivering value for customers and stakeholders throughout Peru.” About EIG EIG is a leading institutional investor in the global energy and infrastructure sectors with $24.3 billion assets under management as of September 30, 2025. EIG specializes in private investments in energy and energy-related infrastructure on a global basis. During its 43-year history, EIG has committed over $51.7 billion to the energ
CyberArk Named a Leader in IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Integrated Solutions for Identity Security 202519.12.2025 18:00:00 EET | Press release
CyberArk (NASDAQ: CYBR), the global leader in identity security, today announced that it has been recognized as a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Integrated Solutions for Identity Security 2025 Vendor Assessment. CyberArk extends dynamic privilege controls across all identity types with its unified platform, enabling organizations to improve efficiencies and streamline security operations. This IDC MarketScape report notes, “More change has occurred in the identity security marketplace in the past two years than in almost a decade. Vendors are entering a new phase defined by the emergence of intelligence technologies, none of which are specifically defined by any industry standards. Though different by design, the new adjacent IAM offerings are largely focused on improved vulnerability and threat management visibility and automated and predictive attack detection capabilities.” It also notes, “By addressing these evolving identity types within a unified framework, CyberArk enh
New York Liberty and Ant International’s Alipay+ Announce Multiyear Partnership Focused on Empowerment, Sustainability and Youth Development19.12.2025 15:30:00 EET | Press release
The New York Liberty and Ant International’s Alipay+, a leading cross-border fintech services platform based in Singapore, today announced a multiyear partnership, making Alipay+ an Official Sponsor and Innovation Partner for Sustainability of the New York Liberty. Through this partnership, Alipay+ and the Liberty will jointly support community programs designed to advance community empowerment, environmental sustainability and youth development across New York City. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251219678825/en/ Peng Yang, CEO, Ant International and Clara Wu Tsai, Vice Chair, Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment; Governor, New York Liberty “Our partnership with Alipay+ goes beyond the game,” said Keia Clarke, Chief Executive Officer, New York Liberty. “Together, we are investing in the future of New York—its people, its environment, and its youth. Ant International’s commitment to community empowerment, sustai
Parse Biosciences and Codebreaker Labs Partner to Apply Whole Transcriptome Single Cell Profiling and Causal Genomics at Scale19.12.2025 15:00:00 EET | Press release
Parse Biosciences, the leading provider of scalable and accessible single cell sequencing solutions, today announced a collaboration with Codebreaker Labs to develop and validate a breakthrough platform capable of testing thousands of genetic variants in parallel and measuring their effects at single cell resolution. By combining Codebreaker’s synthetic biology platform and variant engineering capabilities with the scale and accessibility of Parse’s Evercode™ technology, the collaboration aims to generate the causal data increasingly sought by AI developers, drug discovery teams, and clinical researchers. Today’s genomic studies rely heavily on observational data, or variants that appear in large populations. But rare and private variants, often only seen in one individual or family, are nearly impossible to study this way because too few carriers of the variant exist to draw statistically meaningful conclusions. As a result, even the most advanced models trained on observational datas
Cyviz Awarded Two Classified NATO Defense Contracts19.12.2025 09:00:00 EET | Press release
Norwegian technology and platform company Cyviz AS has been awarded two classified defense contracts by major European NATO-partner nations to deliver a fully mobile, containerised Command & Control (C2) capability, strengthening Europe’s operational readiness in high-threat and expeditionary environments. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251218625485/en/ Image from a previous military exercise where Cyviz demonstrated a mobile command center solution. The contracts cover the design, integration, and delivery of secure, deployable operations centres engineered to NATO security standards, enabling military and security forces to establish full theatre-class command capability wherever operations require. Due to the sensitive nature of the missions, contract value and customer identities remain undisclosed. From Demonstrated Readiness to Operational Deployment The awards follow growing interest among European def
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom