US online TV consumption climbs 246%, says Adobe

Online TV consumption in the US reached an all-time high in the first quarter of this year, climbing 246% year-over-year, according to new research by Adobe. 

The firm’s Q1 2014 US Video Benchmark Report said that game consoles and OTT devices saw the strongest market share growth, increasing 539% compared to the first quarter of last year.

iOS apps also passed traditional web browsers for the first time as the most popular access point for online TV, reaching 43% market share compared to 36% for browsers.

Some 21% of US pay-TV households accessed TV Everywhere content across devices in Q1, more than ever before and up from 16% six months ago.

“Unique TV Everywhere visitors to websites and apps per month increased by 157% year-on-year, while the number of TV Everywhere streams (live, VOD and linear) watched per visitor each month rose 133% YoY,” said Adobe.

The stats were based on data from 1300+ media and entertainment sites between Q1 2013 and Q1 2014 and included 151 billion total online video starts and 1.3 billion TV Everywhere authentications across 250 pay-TV service providers.