Live Drives X Longer Viewing Times Acro All Devices

(01/07/2014) The 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil is a global multimedia event and the second screen user is not bound by the constraints of a TV schedule or by the linear experience of a TV programme. Tablet devices and quasi-permanent connectivity (3G, 4G, LTE, Wi-Fi) have changed the way people consume an event. While watching the match live on TV remains the most popular way for people to follow the competition, a variety of other options are also available.

I'm going home, and when I want to go home, I'm going mobile. PETE TOWNSHEND, THE WHO

Was rock legend Pete Townshend predicting the future of OTT video consumption habits when he penned this iconic lyric over 40 years ago? Probably not, but the opening line of Going Mobile does sum up key elements of a foundational shift in the video market today: viewers increasingly turn to mobile devices to view video of all forms, at all times of day, even at home.

These days, mobile viewing isn't just about watching outside the home, it's about freedom of choice within the home. The advent of always-available-anywhere video has made viewing a more personal experience, allowing family members and flatmates to watch precisely what they want to watch, regardless of the number of TV sets in the household. Smartphones and tablets are no longer just the second screen, but increasingly are the primary devices of choice for video.

Ooyala's Q1 2014 Global Video Index illustrates this mobile viewing trend and more, crunching billions of bits of multi-screen video data from the first quarter of a year that will continue to see online video set new records.

Indeed it has already this year, with the NFL Super Bowl in the U.S., the Sochi Olympic Games and now the World Cup in Brazil.

With the transformation of video consumption habits in full swing, any company in the video business is faced with challenging new questions. It's midnight. Do you know where your audience is? Where is your audience watching? On which devices and on which platforms? What is their tolerance for advertising? Where should you place ads, and how many?

On every device, people watch live video for longer periods of time than video on demand, an important consideration for any publisher looking to put assets online.

- Across Ooyala's global footprint, viewing time of live video on connected TVs was more than 11X more than VOD content.

- On computers, viewing time of live content was nearly 13X as long.

- Tablet users watched live content nearly 3X as long.- Mobile users watched live content nearly twice as long as VOD.

As premium content owners and distributors move forward with meeting consumer demand for all content on all devices, they're also exploring a variety of monetization models, from free to subscription, pay per view and of course advertising. Live video has the power to pull together fractionalized audiences for longer viewing periods creating ideal advertising opportunities. This is why content owners, aggregators and distributors are increasing looking at launching more live events and live linear channels to drive the next generation of online video viewing experience along with the strategies and business models that will capitalize on that consumer demand.

In response to this new and rapidly developing sector FIFA has developed a wide range of multimedia services that complement and enhance Media Rights Licenses (MRL) multimedia coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. More than 33 MRLs habe booked Services to activate in over 80 countries. The services offered include white label apps, white label web players and component elements fulfilling MRLs request for turnkey solutions as well as the need for elements to be integrated into existing solutions.

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