Sports boom but streaming services lose further playtime per user

The study examines the examines the evolution of streaming consumption and quality trends on a global and regional scale. It found that even though the total playtime and number of plays continued to increase across video-on-demand (VOD) and online linear TV, there was an accelerating downward trend for user engagement on the individual service level.

After a 9% decrease in 2021 compared with 2020, VOD services saw 11% lower daily playtime per user and service in the first half of 2022 compared with the same period the previous year. Meanwhile, linear TV services experienced a 13% decline in daily playtime per user after this peaked in 2021while users watched linear content in shorter sessions.

Yet the study also highlighted a major exception: sports. In the first six months of a year packed with live sporting events, daily consumption per user and service for sports content saw a 12% year-over-year increase for VOD and a 13% surge for linear TV. Only for Linear TV, the average daily consumption of sports content per user and service was almost double that of generic linear content, confirming sports content is an engagement powerhouse.

“Attracting and retaining users is becoming increasingly challenging as competition between services and global economic uncertainty grow,” said Ferran G. Vilaró, CEO and Co-Founder of NPAW commenting on the Video Streaming Industry Report H1 2022 . “The rise of advertising-based models and the promise of sports streaming both have the potential to deliver further industry growth, but long-term success depends on a more fundamental formula: superior content + a superior experience.” Rapid TV News