Live Viewing Over Connected TV’s up 200%: FreeWheel’s Rooke

FORT LAUDERDALE — Viewers love TV, but they love watching TV on multiple device screens even more, says a video ad tech vendor targeting benefits form the consumer shift.

“Consumers see TV as TV – an episode of Family Guy is an episode of Family Guy, regardless of where you watch it,” says video ad tech platform FreeWheel’s business solutions GM James Rooke.

“A lot of the growth in non-desktop viewing is actually coming on OTT. With a lot of the marquee sports events last year – whether it be the Olympics, World Cup or others –  last year, we saw over 200% growth in live viewing. Consumers are getting educated about the ability to watch across their devices.”

A year ago, FreeWheel was acquired by Comcast.

“Off-desktop (viewing) is around 27% (of digital viewing) in the US. The greatest growth is coming from OTT (over-the-top) devices. Mobile is over 100% growth year-on-year .”

Rooke was interviewed at Beet.TV’s annual executive retreat by Furious Corp founder and CEO Ashley J. Swartz.

The Beet Retreat ’15 was sponsored by AOL and VideologyPlease find additional videos from the event here.