The company said in a report two in five consumers now have access to high-quality (over 2Mbps) streams, against less than three of 10 in 2014.

Although usage has increased across all device types, connected TV devices now rule the roost, tallying nearly eight times more minutes per month than mobile phones, and four times more than tablets.

Conviva observed that experience metrics vary wildly, with the worst startup times more than three times longer than the shortest.

“As viewers increase their consumption of premium content on larger devices, experience will be the factor that distinguishes the top services,” said Hui Zhang, CEO of Conviva.

“This report clearly shows a gathering tsunami of consumer demand, which will drive billions of dollars of revenue to the streaming media marketplace,” said Zhang. “The big story of 2016 will be the ability of providers in a highly competitive space to differentiate their offering by optimizing the consumer experience.”

Conviva notes that in 2015, OTT services became core lines of business for leading media publishers and service providers, and new consumer usage patterns emerged, highlighting viewer demand for TV-quality experiences when streaming media across the Internet.

Telecomasia.net