In the first quarter of 2014, 35.6 billion global online video starts were tallied by Adobe Systems Inc.’s (NASDAQ: ADBE) Marketing Cloud service. The total is an increase of 43% year-over-year from the first quarter of 2013. A video start is a browser-based, unauthenticated video start.
Authenticated videos are those that are played by viewers watching a video that they have paid for through a pay-TV subscription or for which they have a temporary authorization, and are part of what is known as TV Everywhere. Video consumption of TV Everywhere on mobile devices rose 246% year-over-year, and the number of unique TV Everywhere visitors rose 157% across all types of devices year-over-year and rose 49% sequentially.
The largest growth came in authenticated video plays from gaming consoles and OTT devices, which soared 539% year-over-year. That huge increase could well be at least partially due to the new PlayStation 4 from Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) and the Xbox One from Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), both of which hit the market last November with OTT capability built in.
The iOS platform that powers the iPhones and iPads from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) grabbed a 43% share of the market for TV Everywhere viewing, a rise of two points year-over-year. And in what may be the most startling number in the report, 80% of children’s TV Everywhere content was viewed through an iPhone or iPad. Apple dominates the viewing of authenticated videos as well, with a 50% share.
Market share for viewing through a Web browser fell from 47% a year ago to 36%, and viewing with a device using the Android operating system from Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) rose from 11% to 15%. Gaming consoles and OTT devices saw a share increase from 1% to 6%.
Some 21% of pay-TV households now access TV Everywhere, up 31% in the past six months.
The sample size was more than 1,300 Adobe customers and included 151 total online video starts and 1.3 billion TV Everywhere authentications.
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