• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, February 4, 2014

Adobe has partnered with NBC Olympics, a division of the NBC Sports Group, to stream the Winter Olympics from the Sochi 2014 game. The content, running through Adobe Primetime, will become available on iOS, Android, Comcast X1, Mac OS and Windows OS devices.

Primetime will support the experience on the devices, along with the ad insertions and the TV Everywhere logins. Adobe will insert digital ads in the live video feeds from Sochi, but they will also support the content for video on demand.

NBC will have the option to insert different ads in the live feed, compared with content intended for on-demand replays, said Ashley Still, director of product management for video solutions at Adobe. "When NBC makes the TV-produced feed on the devices, we can replace the television commercial with a digital ad," she said.

Sports video content continues to fuel growth. The consumption of sports video content grew 640% in 2013 during the past year, compared with general video consumption at 440%. Consumers viewed one-quarter of all sports video content on mobile devices in 2013, up 73% from the prior year. TV Everywhere sporting events requiring a mobile app to support viewing grew 37%.

Tablet video consumption fell 10% in 2013 compared with the prior year -- giving it up to smartphones, which reached 31%, up from 28%, respectively. Entertainment consoles also took some of the share. The report is based on 22.5 billion online video starts, 500 million from mobile devices, and 574 million from TV Everywhere streams.

Video on Android devices grew the most rapidly last year. Most broadcast providers initially began using iOS, but companies like Comcast and Turner Broadcasting are changing to Android.

Still attributes the growth, in part, to the quality of Samsung and Google phones. She said Android has become an equivalent substitute for the Apple iPad for a fraction of the cost.