Phenix’s sixth annual Super Bowl Latency Study proved yet again that latency and drift remain an industry challenge. Phenix collected 62 data points across all of the seven platforms streaming the game. We had personnel in-stadium at the Caesars Superdome to get accurate measurements from the field of play to compare against the streaming providers.
This year Phenix measured the latency from:
For the sixth year in a row, average latencies were inconsistent, ranging from a low of 26 seconds to a high of 78 seconds. Drift (difference between the slowest and fastest streams) was also all over the map. Tubi had the smallest drift at 39 seconds, while YouTube TV had the largest drift at 57 seconds. Interestingly, for the second time in recent years of FOX airing the game, they had the lowest latency of any provider. This year, FOX distributed the stream exclusively on its FAST platform, Tubi, at 26 seconds behind the stadium.
This year several cable providers had excessive latencies, some even with more delay than the streaming platforms. Phenix testers measured cable between 32-60 seconds (average of 43 seconds) behind the field. This means that some viewers on Tubi were seeing each play 10 or more seconds ahead of a cable broadcast. Over the air (OTA) signals were significantly lower latency than cable, with a range of 16-21 seconds (average of 17 seconds) behind the field. Hats off to a strong FOX video streaming engineering team on delivering the lowest latency experience by a long shot compared to everyone else!
There are a handful of other latency studies done for the Super Bowl with most measuring from OTA/antenna to streaming devices; Phenix looks at this a bit differently and measures the delay from the field of play to a user's device on all of the seven streaming services. We feel it gives the fan an accurate measure of exactly how much of a delay they are encountering.
There are those that believe real-time streaming - streaming with less than one second of latency (in Phenix’s case, less than ½ second of latency) - is not necessary for watching live sports. “It’s a lean back experience,” the argument goes, plus the game isn't on multiple channels so I’m watching it “exclusively.” Big deal if I see a touchdown a few seconds later than my friends. The truth is the spoiler problem is only getting worse.
Sports content providers are slowly but surely arriving at a profound understanding of how fan engagement plays an essential role in the business and commercialization of sports. According to research from the Sports Business Institute, 87% of sports fans use a second screen while watching a live sports broadcast, with some even triple-screening or more. Further, according to Adtaxi, 7 in 10 Super Bowl viewers engaged with secondary media platforms beyond their primary source. Only 31% of respondents utilized one content source.
We have moved away from that “lean back” experience to the “lean away” or “lean down” era where sports fans are engaging with multiple screens, one of which has the game on, but that is just one of two or three screens. There is no more “first” screen; there are multiple screens and latency matters.
Apply for a free trial to see how Phenix solves the spoiler problem.
Media Contacts
Phenix:
Jed Corenthal
Chief Marketing Officer