• by Wayne Friedman , August 2, 2018

Global viewing hours for streaming TV more than doubled in the second quarter versus the same period a year ago.

Conviva, the streaming TV measurement company, says viewing hours rose 115% to 5.5 billion -- largely attributable to a rise in World Cup viewing in June. Without this special sports viewing, streaming hours still rose 45%.

Worldwide total “plays” of streaming TV content rose 102% to 17.2 billion, including attempted plays, which came to 20.3 billion. For global devices streaming TV during the period was up 45% to 973.4 million, per Conviva.

North America is the largest and fastest-growing market, says Conviva, with a 124% increase in plays and 139% higher in viewing hours. Asia witnessed a 63% hike and 22% more viewing hours, while Europe grew 28% in plays and 32% in viewing hours.

Mobile devices took the highest share of streaming TV with 49% of all plays. Smart TVs were at 27%, and PCs had 24%.

Roku has the biggest share of any streaming TV platform at 8%. Sony PlayStation is at 5%, followed by Microsoft Xbox with 4.6%; Apple TV at 4.1%; Amazon Fire TV with 1.9% and Google Chromecast at 1.8%.