Despite many consumers becoming increasingly frustrated by dropouts and buffering interfering with their viewing experience, live streaming is continuing to rise in popularity says research from streaming video infrastructure provider Bitmovin.
The study surveyed 2001 respondents across the US and in all found that on average, consumers watch just under four hours of live streamed content per week making it the second most watched format behind video-on-demand. Just under a third of consumers spend five or more hours watching live streamed content every week, only beaten by video-on-demand at 34%.
Whilst live streaming continues to rise in popularity, Bitmovin reported that there was still a degree of jeopardy and the majority of consumers expect it. In fact, 53% of viewers have come to expect the stream to drop out at least two times.
The study observed that of late audiences were finding issues with services. It pointed to well-publicised examples of live stream errors such as Netflix cancelling the Love is Blind livestream after technical issues and multiple delays impacting Coachella set times.
The study found such outages were leaving 21% of consumers feeling ‘enraged.’ This strong feeling was a motivator behind the 19% of consumers who avoid live streaming due to lag/latency issues. Consumers sometimes avoided live streaming due to worries over poor video quality (13%), and the ability to watch on demand at a later time (24%).
Yet with sports, music events, reality TV, series finales, awards ceremonies and gaming, live streaming was still very much the preferred way to watch. For sports in particular, almost half of consumers (49%) preferred live streaming compared to only 17% preferring to watch on demand.
When asked for their motivations for watching live content over video-on-demand the most popular reason was to feel the atmosphere of the event (35%). This was closely followed by not wanting to miss out on big moments (34%) and to avoid spoilers (32%).
“Live streaming has evidently become the go-to form of video for viewers. Its ability to create community, atmosphere and experience is something that on-demand cannot match - but with this comes stronger emotional reactions to lagging, dropouts and poor quality,” commented Bitmovin CEO & founder Stefan Lederer.
“Considering the popularity of live streaming, across all types of content, the onus is now on the streaming platform to recognise this and deliver the highest quality live streams with consistency, whilst creating events and atmospheres around its most popular shows.”
Whilst live streaming continues to rise in popularity, Bitmovin reported that there was still a degree of jeopardy and the majority of consumers expect it. In fact, 53% of viewers have come to expect the stream to drop out at least two times.
The study observed that of late audiences were finding issues with services. It pointed to well-publicised examples of live stream errors such as Netflix cancelling the Love is Blind livestream after technical issues and multiple delays impacting Coachella set times.
The study found such outages were leaving 21% of consumers feeling ‘enraged.’ This strong feeling was a motivator behind the 19% of consumers who avoid live streaming due to lag/latency issues. Consumers sometimes avoided live streaming due to worries over poor video quality (13%), and the ability to watch on demand at a later time (24%).
Yet with sports, music events, reality TV, series finales, awards ceremonies and gaming, live streaming was still very much the preferred way to watch. For sports in particular, almost half of consumers (49%) preferred live streaming compared to only 17% preferring to watch on demand.
When asked for their motivations for watching live content over video-on-demand the most popular reason was to feel the atmosphere of the event (35%). This was closely followed by not wanting to miss out on big moments (34%) and to avoid spoilers (32%).
“Live streaming has evidently become the go-to form of video for viewers. Its ability to create community, atmosphere and experience is something that on-demand cannot match - but with this comes stronger emotional reactions to lagging, dropouts and poor quality,” commented Bitmovin CEO & founder Stefan Lederer.
“Considering the popularity of live streaming, across all types of content, the onus is now on the streaming platform to recognise this and deliver the highest quality live streams with consistency, whilst creating events and atmospheres around its most popular shows.”
