When is prime-time in streaming media platforms and video-on-demands services? New media consumption patterns and real-time economy

Abstract

Traditional media are being surpassed by Internet media content, which can be accessed by multiple Internet-enabled devices, when and where ever, often even during night-time. The constant availability and widespread use of these streaming media or video-on-demand services have led to changes in media consumption and usage patterns and video viewing behaviour. This study explores the temporal media consumption patterns of different video-on-demand services in Finland by analysing search engine queries, with the aim to investigate when prime-time for these services occurs. The data for this study were obtained from Google Trends, between 30 September and 1 December 2017. Results show that there are clear and recurring temporal patterns for video-on-demand service interest and media consumption in Finland. Popularity in Google searches for the different video-on-demand services start to rise in the evening and peak during night-time and clear troughs are visible during the morning hours and during the day. These strong diurnal characteristics point to a strong media behaviour and makes it easy to predict trends. It is evident that peaks in primetime for streaming media services are visible at night-time and have replaced the television set prime-time. These findings on behavioural patterns and habits might have new and disruptive implications in the post-television era, both on an individual and societal level.

Convergence of linear television and digital platforms: An analysis of YouTube offer and consumption

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“…Video streaming services, like Netflix and Amazon Prime or Apple TV, are mentioned as over-the-top (OTT) media, online video distributors (OVD) or video-on-demand (VoD) (Tana et al, 2020). OTT services, defined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States, as 'an online provider of video content via the Internet' (Chen 2019).…”

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