Africa saw the largest increase in video streaming services in the third quarter (Q3) of 2021.

That’s according to a report by online video optimisation and analytics firm Conviva in its State of Online Streaming Q3 2021 report.

Says Conviva: “Given that streaming is up 266% over the past three years and so many people predicted the pandemic lockdown period to be the pinnacle, it’s almost inconceivable that it continued to grow this quarter, up 21% over Q3 2020.

“Not only that, but streaming platforms are investing heavily in video content on social media, particularly YouTube. So, it seems that streaming video – whether it’s a massively popular streaming show, a trailer promoting that show on YouTube, or a range of TikTok video fan reactions – will continue to entertain populations the world over.”

According to the firm, globally, streaming increased yet again this quarter, up 21% over this time last year, led predominately by Africa, which saw a massive 273% increase.

It notes that between Q3 and the last quarter, ad impressions and ad attempts were up over 30%, a good sign for publishers and advertisers alike.

Despite seeing a slight decrease in share over Q3 of last year, big screens still accounted for almost three quarters of viewing time worldwide, says the firm.

It adds that engagement and quality of the experience for viewers are highly correlated with viewers tuning out as buffering increases or picture quality declines.

Conviva points out that Q3 2021 marks the first quarter that all six regions measured tallied buffering under 1%, after significant improvements in recent quarters.

The average streaming platform increased their content by 97% on YouTube, resulting in an 8.4% increase of average views per account and an increase in engagements of 24%, says Conviva.

By region, big screen preference varied wildly. For instance, it says in North America, Roku accounted for a remarkable 39% of viewing time, while it only saw slim share in Europe and Oceania with 6%, 5% in South America, and in Africa, was just 1%.

In Europe and Oceania, no big screen device dominated. Europe broke down with the top devices having only a few percentages among them – Samsung TV at 19%; Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Linux STB each at 12%; Android TV at 11%; and LG TV with 10% share.

While Oceania was similarly close; Chromecast with 21%, Samsung TV and Android TV both at 17%, PlayStation with 11%, and Apple TV at 10%.

Conviva notes that Africa had a much wider spread with Linux STB taking in the most share at 29% while Chromecast, Android TV, and Samsung TV followed with around 15% share each.

LG TV with 8% and PlayStation and Apple TV, both with 7%, rounded out the top devices in Africa.

While big screen viewing time in Asia is only 12% share of the overall viewing time in the region, with 52% share, Android TV clearly won the most share of any big screen device in any region as Asia’s big screen of choice. It was followed fairly closely by Amazon Fire TV with 22% and then, there was a cliff. The other devices barely chart with the next closest share being Samsung TV with just 8% and LG TV at only 6%.