Mobile TV Streaming More Likely at Night
Smaller—and larger—screens prevail for evening and late-night viewing
October 6, 2015
Digital video viewers stream their favorite TV shows to PCs and mobile devices all day—and all night. According to 2015 data on when accompanying pre-roll video ads were served, daypart plays a role in determining which devices they use. Mobile devices, including tablets, appear to be more congenial to late-night viewing.
According to TubeMogul data about activity on its platform from April through June 2015, among pre-roll ads supporting streaming TV being viewed on computers, just 12% were served overnight, from midnight until 6am. On mobile phones, the overnight share of pre-roll ads was more than twice as high, at 25%. Tablets saw a similarly strong 22% of streaming TV ads served between midnight and 6am.
Evening viewing was stronger on all mobile devices, but heaviest on tablets. More than two in five (41%) streaming TV pre-roll ads served to tablets were served between 6pm and midnight. That compared to 29% of ads served to mobile phones and 33% of ads served to computers.
A majority of TV streaming to computers occurred during the day, with 56% of ads served between 6am and 6pm. For mobile phones, the daytime share was 46%, and for tablets just 37%.
Q2 2015 data from FreeWheel Also found a stronger daytime share of digital video ad views for desktop and laptop computers, along with higher nighttime usage of smartphones and tablets. The FreeWheel data also included over-the-top (OTT) devices, which had the highest concentration of primetime and late-night viewing of any device—and among the lowest daytime viewership.
Results such as these are common, and mesh with what media consumers report about their device usage habits.
