‘TV Everywhere’ Finally Takes Off – and It Has a Long Way to Go (Exclusive)
The TV industry’s answer to the Netflix threat is growing again, but it’s still far behind the leading streaming service
Joan E. Solsman | February 25, 2016 @ 6:00 AM
Last Updated: February 25, 2016 @ 6:40 AM
Netflix
TV Everywhere finally may be breaking out of its funk, but it still has a long way to go, according to a new study by Adobe.
TV Everywhere, the television industry’s program to keep customers in the pay-TV model even as viewing migrates online, has struggled with meager adoption for years. The program lets subscribers stream TV content over the Internet by “authenticating” that they already pay a regular cable or satellite bill. If you’ve ever been asked to enter your cable or satellite password before watching a show or movie on a device, that’s a TV Everywhere authentication.
At the end of 2015, the share of pay-TV households that signed in to TV Everywhere jumped to 17.4 percent, after it had been mired in the 11 percent to 14 percent range since the middle of last year, according to Adobe’s latest Digital Video Benchmark report.
That’s “breakout growth” in the share of households that are using TV Everywhere, Jeremy Helfand, the vice president of Adobe Primetime, said in an interview with TheWrap. But it still has a big gap to close between purely online rivals. Compared to TV Everywhere’s 17.4 percent penetration, Netflix has about 40 percent of households logging in, Helfand said.
“One of the concerns the industry has had is whether this TVE model would take shape. There is this acceleration happening, as consumers are getting more used to or aware that TVE content is there,” he said.
The leap in the final quarter of last year occurred even though the period lacked any single big event, like an Olympic games or March Madness, that would lure viewers to flock online for viewing, he noted. TV Everywhere is seeing a combination of new viewers starting to watch and more viewing by existing users.
Adobe aggregated the data from more than 3.6 billion TV Everywhere authentications.
The report also found that the volume of logins through TV connected devices like Apple TV or Roku is exploding, as people shifting their TV Everywhere authentications to devices that will stream video onto the biggest screen in the house. In the fourth quarter, 21 percent of authentications were through a TV-connected device, up from 16 percent a year earlier and less than 3 percent the year before that.
That growth is coming at the expense of viewing on iPhones and iPads. The share of authentications on Apple’s mobile operating system iOS dropped 9 percentage points to 36 percent.
Who's Who in the Apple Vs. FBI Feud (Photos)
Tim Cook
Apple's CEO sparked headlines by refusing to help the FBI unlock an iPhone linked to a deadly mass shooting, shining a spotlight on a long-simmering tension between protecting either digital privacy or public safety from attacks
Getty Images
Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik
The couple killed 14 people in December's mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif. Using a warrant to searching a car linked to the husband, Farook, law enforcement discovered a passcode-protected iPhone. They want to bypass security blockers to peek into the phone's data for clues about associates or possible future attacks.
U.S. Government
James Comey
The FBI's director defended the agency's request that Apple help crack the shooter's iPhone, saying investigators wouldn't be able to look survivors in their eyes if the FBI didn't pursue the lead.
Getty Images
Eileen M. Decker
The U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, Decker is the top Justice Department official fighting on behalf of the FBI in court. Decker said the court's order would help investigators uncover the motives behind the attack. “We have made a solemn commitment to the victims and their families that we will leave no stone unturned," she said.
Department of Justice
Donald Trump
The Republican presidental candidate seized on the standoff pitting Apple against national security interests, calling for a boycott of the company until it helps unlock the phone.
Getty Images
Edward Snowden
The former intelligence contractor, who leaked documents in 2013 that exposed warrantless government surveillance, called the face-off "the most important tech case in a decade" and criticized the FBI for creating a world where Apple protects citizens' rights, rather than the other way around.
Praxis Films
Sundar Pichai
Google's CEO, who is instrumental in the world's other major smartphone operating system besides Apple's, was the first major figure in Silicon Valley to express support for Cook. He said requiring companies to enable hacking of customer devices and data "could be a troubling precedent."
Getty Images
Mark Zuckerberg
The CEO of Facebook, the world's biggest social network, said his company was “sympathetic” to Apple. “We believe in encryption,” he said.
Getty Images
John McAfee
The anti-virus software businessman, who is known for his own tangles with law enforcement, said he and his team of hackers would break into Farook's iPhone for the FBI at no charge, to eliminate the need for Apple to develop another way in. "I would eat my shoe... if we could not break the encryption on the San Bernardino phone," he said.
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Apple and the U.S. government are facing off over a killer terrorist’s locked iPhone. Here are the main figures in the case
Tim Cook
Apple's CEO sparked headlines by refusing to help the FBI unlock an iPhone linked to a deadly mass shooting, shining a spotlight on a long-simmering tension between protecting either digital privacy or public safety from attacks