Despite the introduction of console upgrades last year to the two biggest video game platforms, Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox, the use of consoles to stream video dropped 14% globally in the second quarter, according to data recently published by Conviva. 

The decline comes amid huge usage increases for smart TVs, which saw their viewing time shoot up 46% over the same period. 

"For years, all devices have recorded global increases in viewing time," the latest Conviva State of Streaming report said, perhaps lending credence to the notion that the data indicates a sea change in how consumers stream video worldwide. 

Notably, the No. 1 manufacturer of smart TVs globally, South Korea's Samsung, is seeing growth in global viewing market share, according to the same report. 

Samsung's smart TV OS, branded "Tizen" in North America, captured 12% of global streaming time in the second quarter, vs. just 10% in the second quarter of 2020. 

Xbox, meanwhile, saw its share decline to 5% from 7%, while PlayStation's share was 6% vs. 7% in the year-ago period. 

Other smart TV makers saw their streaming shares increase, too, including LG and Vizio, while the top two connected TV platforms, Roku and Amazon Fire TV, experienced narrow declines. 

Android TV remains a niche platform, meanwhile, controlling just 5% of global streaming time. 

MoffettNathanson initiated coverage of the video gaming sector Thursday, adding that sub-par broadband speeds in a large chunk of the country could affect growth at some of the biggest game makers. 

In a 104-page report, MoffettNathanson research analyst Clay Griffin issued “buy” ratings on top game makers Activision Blizzard and Take-Two Interactive and slapped a “neutral” rating on Electronic Arts. He outlined three “mega-trends” in the industry, two of which have at least some ties to the cable broadband business, with increased digitization of game distribution being the largest.

Griffin wrote that the movement from packaged games sold in stores to titles that can be directly downloaded to PCs has been going on for years, but that digital distribution of console games only recently passed 50% of total unit sales. While Griffin noted that Electronic Arts finished the last fiscal year with a 62% digital full game mix and Take-Two and Activision reported even higher percentages, he doesn’t see the total elimination of video game stores just yet. One of the reasons for that is the lack of availability of ultra-high broadband speeds throughout the country. 

“The convenience argument — ‘avoid the store, just click to buy’ — is diluted by the fact that modern games are huge files,” Griffin wrote. “Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War weighed in at 136 GB on XBox Series X/S. Broadband speeds have improved, but according to the FCC, about ⅓ of the country doesn’t yet have a connection capable of 100 Mbps.”

Griffin added that even at 100 Mbps, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War would take three hours to download.

President Joseph Biden has proposed spending about $100 billion for broadband deployment as part of his American Jobs Plan infrastructure package that would help close that digital divide. While the government’s definition of sufficient high-speed internet has been in the 25 Megabit per second range in the past, some Democrats have pushed for that minimum to be raised to 100 Mbps. 

Cable operators have noticed an uptick in take rates for higher speed broadband tiers during the pandemic, and many expect that trend to continue. Broadband speed has been a priority for cable operators for years — Comcast has increased the average speeds of its broadband service every year for the past 20 years, Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson said during the company’s Q1 earnings call.  Charter Communications said during its Q1 earnings call that most of its broadband customers opt for its entry-level 200 Mbps package. 

About a week ago (June 17), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIS) released an interactive map that shows key areas of broadband need across the country using data from public and private sources. According to that map, there are large pockets of the U.S. that have average broadband speeds of 25 Mbps or less. 

Though game developers have made it possible to start and play games without finishing the download and broadband speeds are expected to improve, game files will likely get bigger, too.  Data caps that limit downloads to 1 Terabyte per month seem huge on the surface, but could become another barrier, “especially as video streaming steadily replaces cable/satellite,” Griffin wrote.

Among gamers, that transition is already happening. 

Griffin cited a Deloitte study that showed 26% of Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2015) and 16% of Millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996) cited playing video games as their favorite entertainment activity. Watching TV shows or movies at home placed last for Generation Z (10%) and a close second for Millennials (18%, compared to 14% that picked listening to music). In comparison, 39% of Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) picked watching TV shows and movies at home as their favorite entertainment activity, with only 3% selecting video games.

While entertainment choices will likely shift once Generation Z gets older, that isn’t always the case, pointing to the 16% of Millennials who picked gaming as their favorite entertainment activity. 

“Over half of Millennials are now over 30 years old. Old enough where the “chains of habit” are starting to get pretty heavy,” Griffin wrote. “The implications of this are clear. Even if Gen Z were to look more like the Millennials do now a generation forward, Millennials and even Gen Xers, will undoubtedly be more involved with video games than Boomers are today.” 

Griffin referred to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick’s often-quoted remark that “people consume the media they fell in love with when they were 17 for the rest of their lives. We think there’s some credence to that idea.”

Row8, an independent movie service, said it made a deal that makes its film catalog available to Sony PlayStation users via Rad’s applications. 

The films will be available as TVOD and rental content, in addition to being inside Rad’s VR theater model. Row8 will also be part of Rad’s upcoming Oculus Rift application.

“Our partnership with Rad opens many doors to Row8’s content and how and where people consume it,” said John Calkins, Row8 CEO. “Breaking through to Sony PlayStation with Rad’s strong presence there, clearly shows Row8’s flexibility in working with different distribution platforms.”

PlayStation is the latest platform supporting Row8. Others include Roku, AppleTV Android TV, iOS, Android, and websites like Rad.

“Rad is blown away at Row8’s ability to seamlessly package up and deliver top films from the biggest studios in Hollywood,” said Tony Mugavero, Co-founder and CEO of Rad. “They are leaning heavily into technologies like VR and blockchain, and Rad is excited to make Row8’s content available transactionally.”

Row8 also recently received a patent for its dynamic trade area filtering technology.

“Our patented trade area filtering technology can enable our exhibitor partners to maximize on-screen revenues via larger marketing campaigns by enabling film distributors to accelerate home revenue from non-competing trade areas to better support the initial theatrical release - a win-win for all,” said Calkins.

Separately, Row8 has also created and filed for a patent for its Scene Alert technology, which in real time during viewing alerts parents to upcoming scenes that contain potentially offensive material.

HBO has given a series order to drama The Last of Us, based on the popular PlayStation video game. The story takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes “a brutal, heartbreaking journey,” said HBO, as they traverse the U.S. 

Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann and Carolyn Strauss are executive producers, along with Naughty Dog’s Evan Wells and PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan.

“Craig and Neil are visionaries in a league of their own,” said Francesca Orsi, executive VP, HBO Programming. “With them at the helm alongside the incomparable Carolyn Strauss, this series is sure to resonate with both die-hard fans of The Last of Us games and newcomers to this genre-defining saga. We’re delighted to partner with Naughty Dog, Word Games, Sony and PlayStation to adapt this epic, powerfully immersive story.”

Related: HBO to Serve Up More 'In Treatment'

Written by Mazin and Druckmann, the series is a co-production with Sony Pictures Television. PlayStation Productions, Word Games and Naughty Dog produce. 

“We’re thrilled to be working with HBO and this fantastic creative team to bring The Last of Us series to life,” said Jeff Frost, president of Sony Pictures Television Studios and Asad Qizilbash, head of PlayStation Productions. “PlayStation’s innovative storytelling and ingenuity is a natural complement to SPT’s creative focus. Our collaboration is a great example of our ‘One Sony’ philosophy at work. We look forward to developing even more iconic game IP in the future.”

The latest iteration of the console wars is set, with Sony on Thursday announcing a Nov. 12 North American debut for its PlayStation 5 gaming system. 

The PlayStation 5 will come in at $399 for an all digital version, and $499 for one that includes an Ultra HD Blu-ray player.

The consoles arrive two days after rival Microsoft debuts its Xbox X and S series products. 

The last refresh of the two biggest video game consoles occurred in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Like the new Xbox, PlayStation 5’s principal video streaming upgrades come in the form of screen resolution, with the device supporting 4K. 

Also read: Microsoft to Debut Next-gen Xbox Consoles Series ‘X’ and ’S’ Nov. 10

And similarly, there will be a big upgrade in terms of computer horsepower, starting with an AMX Ryzen Zen 2 CPU, and AMD Radeon RDNA 2-based graphics engine, 16 gigs of RAM and an 825GB solid-state hard drive. 

The device includes an HD camera and a separately available remote for video streaming ($29.99)

Sony announced the console upgrade in this blog post.

Turner’s first-ever digital streaming service, FilmStruck, will debut Oct. 19, offering more than 900 classic, independent and foreign films to consumers on a subscription video-on-demand basis. A major component of the service will be exclusive access to the Criterion Collection studio library, which will launch on the service sometime in November.

UPDATE, 10-18-2016:Turner Delays Launch of FilmStruck

FilmStruck and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) general manager Jennifer Dorian recently spoke with Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead about the appeal of the service as well as FilmStruck’s potential subscriber base. Here’s an edited excerpt of their conversation.

NTV:What was the thinking behind creating the FilmStruck brand?

Jennifer Dorian: We have researched that a lot of fans are having a hard time with critically acclaimed, hard-to-find films and they are looking for them in multiple places, whether its streaming, on cable or on DVD and Blu-ray collections. We felt like this was the promise of the Internet: to put everything together in one place and really curate to a niche audience.

The economics work for streaming to niche audiences, so we were thinking that art house, independent cinema is a niche that’s underserved and we could be the home for it.

NTV:Why not launch the service in the linear cable space, similar to TCM?

JD: TCM is doing well and thriving in its environment on linear cable and with its TV everywhere authenticated app, so let that service do its thing. This is a new way for us to experiment and maybe take some risks that I wouldn’t want to take with a gem of a treasured brand such as TCM.

NTV:Will most of the content for FilmStruck come from the TCM library?

JD: We’ve worked with 30 distributors — mostly independent distributors and some major studios, like Miramax and Sony Pictures Classics — and we’ve cultivated a new library that is different than TCM. This is a departure from classic Hollywood. There are major film industries in Japan, Sweden, France, Italy, Mexico and Bollywood, so we’re going to have some fun with different storytellers from around the world. The first release of the service [includes] 23 movies from 23 countries and 15 languages. It’s a very different library than TCM.

NTV:How important is the Criterion Collection library acquisition for the service?

JD: It’s really huge that we are the exclusive streaming home for the Criterion library because they are a very respected and acclaimed name, they are a great brand and they have supplemental materials that are incredible for over 1,200 titles.

NTV:What specific audience demo do you expect to sign up for FilmStruck?

JD: Our research and our gut are both matching — we think it’s younger, 25-to-44-year-olds who are already streaming on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. They also all have pay TV cable as well; it’s not about cord-cutting, but rather loving entertainment so much that that’s where you spend a lot of your money. We’re also going after art-house film lovers who are streamers, and presumably they are easy to target and find through digital advertising as well as through community events and gatherings.

NTV:What platforms will FilmStruck be available on?

JD: We will initially launch on the Web via desktop, iOS and mobile devices and Android mobile devices. We’ll be exclusive on Amazon Fire TV for 30 days and then in late November we’ll be added to Apple TV OS fourth-generation generation [player]. December through March [2017] we’ll be adding Chromecast, Roku and PlayStation 4.

NTV:What makes you so confident that people will want to purchase a subscription to watch classic and art-house films in an ultra-crowded digital content environment?

JD: I think that the big players in the U.S. have already taken over the role of being all things to everybody, which leaves room for the independent niche services that appeal to fandoms and hobbyists, and I think the film community and film culture is a great community that needs to be served.

It’s less about streaming movies and more about celebrating film culture and film as art. Yes, we’re streaming movies, but we’re also streaming thematic curation and supplements that make you have a deeper, more immersive experience.

Gaming consoles remained the top CE device used to access online video content as of the first quarter of 2015, followed by smart TVs, streaming media players, connected DVRs and Blu-ray players, Parks Associates found in a new study.

But keep an eye out for a potential shift in the months and years ahead. The research firm said about  21% of U.S. broadband homes with at least one Internet-connected CE device use streaming media players as the “primary” platform for online video, up from 12% a year ago.

Of the platforms, Roku, which just launched a 4K-capable model, is now the third-most commonly used connected CE device for video streaming (10%), behind Microsoft’s Xbox (14%) and Sony’s PlayStation consoles (13%), Parks Associates said, noting that usage declined for both connected gaming consoles and DVRs, paired with a modest increase for smart TVs (see chart).

“Streaming media players continue to stake out a growing portion of the connected home,” said Barbara Kraus, director of research at Parks Associates, in a statement about the report -- The Streaming Media Device Landscape. “It is a rapid ascendance for streaming media players, and Roku in particular, especially considering the broad base of gaming console ownership compared to the lower penetration of streaming media devices.”

The report also found that two-thirds of U.S. broadband households connect at least one device to the Internet. About 20% of those homes own at least one streaming media “cube” player and 8% own at least one streaming stick. 

The Duck Dynasty hunting adventure video game is now available on current and last-generation consoles, as announced by A&E and Activision Publishing Inc. today.

Acting as the hit shows family members, players will learn about duck hunting, while exploring airboat racing, truck and ATV driving, shooting galleries, shotgun golf, fishing and more.

The new game can be purchased for PlayStation®4 and Xbox One, with all-in-one games from Microsoft at $49.99 suggested retail and $39.99 from Microsoft and Windows PC.

Uncle Si’s exclusive Redneck Logic™ trivia challenge will also be available for a limited time.

The game is rated T (Teen) by the ESRB, and a separate one is rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and Up). To learn more, click here.

Amazon will stream its original series Transparent for its Amazon Prime subscribers beginning today (Sept. 26), the OTT service announced Friday.

The 10-episode series about a Los Angeles family forced to deal with their long-held secrets together stars Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development), Judith Light (Dallas), Gaby Hoffmann (Girls), Amy Landecker (Louie) and Jay Duplass (Togetherness). Amazon Prime members can binge watch Transparent  via the Amazon Instant Video apps for Amazon Fire TV, Fire tablets, Fire phone, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Roku, Xbox, PlayStation, Wii, as well as hundreds of other connected devices such as smart TVs, said company officials.

Transparent was one of four scripted series greenlit by Amazon last March during its second original pilot season.

“We’re thrilled to bring this poignant, funny and beautifully-crafted series to Amazon Prime customers and to the world,” said Roy Price, Vice President, Amazon Studios. “It’s been an honor to partner with such a passionate storyteller as Jill Soloway to bring her vision for Transparent to life and we can’t wait for everyone to meet the Pfeffermans.”