Streaming Trends: Engagement Drops, but Quality Improves

Barcelona, Spain, April 24, 2025--NPAW has released its full 2024 State of the Video Industry Report  where among its findings sow that global Video on Demand (VOD)  engagement dropped after a strong H1 Q4 did improve compared to Q3. Slightly lower engagement vs 2023 with viewers watching less titles and for a shorter time.

Other findings of the report include:

  • Global VOD Quality improvements in most metrics Buffer Ratio (%), Bitrate, and Avg. Join Time improved vs. 2023, with Buffer Ratio showing the largest drop (-35%).
  • Global Engagement in Linear TV shows slight increase Q4 did improve compared to Q3. Slightly lower engagement vs 2023 with viewers watching less titles and for a shorter time.
  • Linear TV Global Quality improved across the board Significant reduction in Buffer Ratio, complemented by a strong increase in Bitrate, but offset by a slight increase in Avg. Join Time and a rise in EBVS.
  • Regional VOD Engagement & Quality Decrease in engagement vs 2023 in most regions. Quality improvements in most regions for all KPIs, especially in Buffer Ratio (%) and Avg. Join Time.
  • Regional Linear TV Engagement & Quality Europe continues to be the most engaged region, with ME seeing the largest drop in Avg. Playtime and Titles per User. Quality KPIs in most regions have improved.

 

"The 2024 insights show that streaming platforms have seen mixed results in engagement and quality. Video-on-demand (VOD) Playtime per User has dipped slightly, with fewer titles watched. The decline was more pronounced in the second half of the year, though Q4 showed some recovery. Despite lower engagement, quality metrics improved significantly - Bitrate increased and Buffer Ratio decreased by 35%.
Linear TV, however, remained steady. Playtime increased slightly to 35 minutes per user, while the Number of Titles watched saw a minor drop. Quality improvements were even more significant, with a 17% jump in Bitrate and a 31% reduction in Buffer Ratio. Regional trends varied, with the Pacific region leading in engagement and Asia seeing the lowest. TV remains the dominant device for streaming, while consoles saw the highest Playtime per User. Despite some engagement declines, overall streaming quality is at its best," said Ferran G. Vilaró CEO & Co-Founder of NPAW.

NPAW tracks and analyzes video consumption, user behavior, quality of experience, and quality of service, helping online streaming services grow. NPAW has over a decade of experience developing groundbreaking, scalable analytics solutions to optimize performance and user engagement, helping customers to build media experiences that maximize revenue. Its suite of analytics apps provides advanced visibility and actionable insights on platform performance, audience behavior, advertising and content efficiency, as well as app navigation in real-time to support data-driven decisions. NPAW serves more than 190 video services and processes over 100 billion plays per year worldwide. Established in 2008 by co-founders of the video streaming service Wuaki TV, which was later sold to Rakuten, NPAW has offices in Barcelona and New York with teams around the world.