"Reliable WiFi throughout the home and in the community has become a necessity," said Duncan Potter, VP of marketing for ARRIS. "One of the things that is very clear is that (providers) are still not meeting expectations .... If you combine the statistics and feedback we saw around the number of devices that are consuming video in the home ... this will be even more important."
These numbers mean opportunities for operators to take stock, arm their installers with more sophisticated tools, and focus on real-time analytics. With the migration to IP and the use of adaptive bitrate technology, per-stream analytics can help to detect issues with the network and inside the household, very quickly and with a lot of detail, Potter said. "They should make sure there is an end-to-end view rather than (thinking) their responsibility stops at the cable modem."
Other key findings include that binge viewing is primarily a solo activity. Some 60% of viewers that say they binge view noted that they do so alone. This statistic should give service providers further impetus for investigating the concept of personalization, Potter said. The occurrences of binge viewing also are on the rise: 33% of all respondents said they binge view at least once a week, and 56% binge view at least once a month. In the youngest age group polled (16-24), 89% said they binge watch and do so for 4 hours at a time.
Dramas have surpassed movies as the choice of the binge-watcher. "It is very clear to programmers that people watch multiple episodes at the same time," Potter said. "Clearly there has been some improvement in linkage (between episodes) and some focus on making sure there is consistency between episodes."
As for OTT services, usage seems to have reached saturation, with only a 1% overall growth in users since last year (from 91% to 92%). There was a 12% rise in OTT usage among the 65+ age group, but overall the average consumer across the generations still spends 10.7 hours per week watching free broadcast TV. "The announcement of TV's demise is somewhat premature - in fact, extremely premature. It shouldn't be talked about," Potter said.
Operators, however, are looking at business models that mix services and offer a range of marketplaces (iTunes, gaming, content downloading, etc.) to the consumer. "They are actively participating rather than be a 'victim'," Potter said. "In the past, (OTT) was regarded as warfare. Now it is more nuanced."