Streaming TV viewership recorded a 165% Q4 growth in '18, courtesy of the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, World Cup 2018 and the NFL, according to Kunal Dhyani of INSIDE SPORT. World Cup and NFL coverage were among the "major players" in the '18 OTT "spike." Among the most-watched sporting events, Conviva’s statistics show that the World Cup resulted in a 12% lift in streaming hours throughout the tournament, while coverage from the Winter Olympics drove a 26% increase in daily viewership. The number of hours that people streamed content "more than doubled" at the end of '18 compared to the previous year, driven by a "surge in viewership across the sporting calendar’s biggest events," according to new research. Conviva CEO Bill Demas said, "Live events have a way of connecting us on both a local and global scale. The ability to watch and be a part of exciting news, sports and other developments as they're happening is attracting viewers in droves." However, that growth "did not come without challenges," boosts in traffic leading in some cases to "issues around latency and the quality of user experience." The report noted issues with Amazon Prime's coverage of the US Open, which "took a hit on viewer confidence" (INSIDE SPORT, 1/31).
