NEW YORK: TV Everywhere (TVE) users make up an increasing proportion of monthly pay-TV users and they are viewing far more this way according to new research.

Figures from ADI's Q4 Digital Video Benchmark report show that active TVE users were up 22% on Q3, rather more than the 12% to 14% quarter-on-quarter growth seen previously.

Sports-related content and special programming, such as the fall TV premieres, drove TVE consumption in Q4, ADI said.

At 17.4%, however, overall household penetration is still not very high, although those that do have access to TVE appear to be using it more heavily.

TVE video viewing was up 29% quarter-on-quarter and had doubled (+102%) over the year as a whole, ADI reported, and it expected the trend will continue.

The figures were based on aggregated and anonymous data gathered by Adobe, including 134bn online video starts, 36bn TVE authentications and more than 300 TVE access points.

Apple's iOS operating system saw the greatest share of TVE authentications in Q4, but at 36% this was sharply down on the 45% recorded a year earlier.

ADI highlighted consumption slowly moving towards connected devices, such as Apple TV and Roku, as the share taken by these rose from 16% to 21% over the same period.

Browser viewing held steady, on a 24% share, which ADI attributed to free trial subscriptions, while Android edged up from 15% to 18%.

"Right now we're still seeing the bulk of advertising and interaction happening on traditional television, but TV Everywhere should not be ignored," said Becky Tasker, managing analyst at ADI.

"Marketers should already be planning and testing so that when penetration does occur, they can have a better handle of how they're going to shift their marketing dollars to attract that audience," she added.

Data sourced from Adobe Digital Index; additional content by Warc staff