TV everywhere use moves to connected devices

TV everywhere consumption is “slowly moving toward” connected devices like Apple TV and Roku boxes, according to new research by Adobe Digital Index.

Though Apple’s iOS operating system still sees the bulk of TV everywhere (TVE) authentications, its share decreased 20% year-on-year while connected devices saw 31% growth, said the Q4 Digital Video Benchmark report.

The study said that for the quarter iOS devices accounted for 36% of TVE authentications, the browser accounted for 24%, connected TV devices 21%, and Android devices 18%.

TVE consumption via Roku, specifically, increased 14% quarter-over-quarter in Q4, which Adobe said was likely due to major broadcast networks adding channels in mid-November. By comparison, iOS authentications were down almost 12% quarter-over-quarter.

Adobe said that Apple TV devices were the most-used connected TV device, followed by Rokus, games consoles and Amazon Fire TV devices.

“Overall growth in TVE video viewing has doubled year-on-year (102%) – a trend Adobe Digital Index expects to continue,” said the research. “Active TVE users increased 22% quarter-over-quarter, which is notable since previous quarter growth ranged from 12% to 14%.”

Overall the TV everywhere share of active monthly pay TV users stood at 17.4% in Q4, compared to 12.8% for the same quarter a year earlier.

Adobe Digital Index’s research is based on the analysis of anonymous, aggregated data from over 5,000 companies around the world that use the Adobe Digital Marketing Cloud to get data and analysis of activity on websites, social media, and advertising.