When is prime-time in streaming media platforms and video-on-demands services? New media consumption patterns and real-time economy

Abstract

Traditional media are being surpassed by Internet media content, which can be accessed by multiple Internet-enabled devices, when and where ever, often even during night-time. The constant availability and widespread use of these streaming media or video-on-demand services have led to changes in media consumption and usage patterns and video viewing behaviour. This study explores the temporal media consumption patterns of different video-on-demand services in Finland by analysing search engine queries, with the aim to investigate when prime-time for these services occurs. The data for this study were obtained from Google Trends, between 30 September and 1 December 2017. Results show that there are clear and recurring temporal patterns for video-on-demand service interest and media consumption in Finland. Popularity in Google searches for the different video-on-demand services start to rise in the evening and peak during night-time and clear troughs are visible during the morning hours and during the day. These strong diurnal characteristics point to a strong media behaviour and makes it easy to predict trends. It is evident that peaks in primetime for streaming media services are visible at night-time and have replaced the television set prime-time. These findings on behavioural patterns and habits might have new and disruptive implications in the post-television era, both on an individual and societal level.