Analytics in Wowza Video provide valuable insights into audience behavior and engagement which helps you to understand viewer preferences and optimize your streaming strategies for better reach and retention. This data-driven approach helps in enhancing content quality and maximizing the overall streaming experience for viewers.
The different types of analytics we provide are viewer, engagement (for videos only), and popularity for both live streams and videos:
Viewer Analytics – Provide information regarding viewers, renditions, devices, and countries. This data is crucial for streaming platforms and content providers to enhance user experience, optimize content libraries, and drive engagement.
Engagement Analytics – Data for a stream that provides a concise overview of viewer retention throughout a stream. It presents the initial viewer count and tracks how the viewer engagement evolves as the stream progresses.
Popularity Analytics (plays and displays data) – Refer to metrics that track the number of times a stream has been initiated or viewed by viewers. These metrics are vital in assessing the popularity and reach of streaming content.
Current Analytics
Current analytics in streaming focus on real-time or near-real-time data analytics and help you understand viewer engagement, identify peak moments, and adjust content or promotions at the moment.
You can do any of the following with current analytics:
Filter by –You can filter the current analytics data to see all live streams and video-on-demand (VOD) streams, or a specific live or VOD stream. Start typing in the Select assets field to filter the stream names and choose one.
View and analyze data for the stream(s) you filtered for:
Note: A unique viewer is determined by a unique IP address and user agent, comprising browser details (name and version), operating system version, and device type. If two viewers share the same IP but use different browsers, they're counted separately. Yet, viewers on the same network sharing the same user agent will be counted as a single unique viewer.
- Viewers – The number of unique viewers for a selected stream. Hover over the line chart to get the exact viewer count at a specific time.
- Right now – Displays the current unique viewers of the stream(s).
- In the last hour – Displays how many viewers the stream(s) averaged in the last hour.
- Live streams – Displays the number of viewers for live streams in the last hour.
- Videos – Displays the number of viewers for Videos (VOD streams) in the last hour.
- Total – Displays the total number of viewers for both live streams and Videos in the past hour.
- Devices – Displays the types of devices on which the live streams or videos were viewed including the number of devices and percentage per device type.
- Renditions – Displays the number of viewers per each rendition. A rendition is typically the resolution of a stream and it is measured in pixels.
- Countries – Displays the unique viewers by country and the percentage of viewers per country and is determined per browser session.
- Top Videos – Displays the top videos streamed in an account and the number and percentage of viewers each stream had in the last hour.
- Top Live streams – Displays the top live streams streamed in an account and the number and percentage of viewers each stream had in the last hour.
Note: When you filter the current analytics data for an individual stream (live stream or video), the Top Videos and Top Live streams data won't be displayed.
There’s an Export CSV (or an icon representing this function) button you can click to export data in a specific table or chart to a CSV file. You can find the button at the top-right corner of every section on the analytics page. Use this data for tracking or metrics in other applications.
Note: In Current Analytics, all the data points display numbers "over the last hour" except for the "Viewers (Right now)" chart. If there are many viewers over the last hour, but none right now, all the other data points will display, "There are no records to display". The Current Analytics page auto-updates every 60 seconds.
Historic analytics
Historic analytics track long-term trends, content performance, and audience behavior, providing valuable insights into the evolution of viewer preferences and platform engagement. By analyzing historical data, you can make informed decisions, forecast future trends, and optimize content strategies for sustained growth and relevance in the market.
You can do any of the following with historic analytics:
Note: A unique viewer is determined by a unique IP address and user agent, comprising browser details (name and version), operating system version, and device type. If two viewers share the same IP but use different browsers, they're counted separately. Yet, viewers on the same network sharing the same user agent will be counted as a single unique viewer.
Filter by – Filter data with preset time periods or enter a custom time period. You can also filter by stream type (Livestream or a VOD stream) and stream name. Start typing in the Select assets field to filter the stream names and choose one.
View and analyze data for the stream(s) you filtered for:
- Viewers – The number of unique viewers for a selected stream. Hover over the line chart to get the exact viewer count at a specific time.
- Total – Displays the number of unique viewers over the time period selected.
Note: When you filter the viewers data, it is returned in the following intervals:
- If you filter data between 0 minutes to 8 hours, the granularity of the data returned is by minute.
- If you filter data between 8 and 24 hours, the granularity of the data returned is per hour.
- If you filter data between 24 hours and 175 days, the granularity of the data returned is per day.
- If you filter data between 175 days and 14 years, the granularity of the data returned is per month.
- Popularity – The chart displays the number of times a player was displayed and the number of times a live stream or a video was played. This value is retrieved only for a stream(s) for which the set player is Wowza Flowplayer. Hover over the chart to find out the number of plays and displays of a stream at a specific time.
- Displays – The total number of instances a video thumbnail or preview is displayed to viewers.
- Plays – The total number of times viewers play a video.
- Engagement – Displays the rate of engagement for a specific VOD asset. The engagement rate consists of the play rate and completion rate for that stream. The line chart can fluctuate if users jump to different asset segments.
- Play rate – Displays the percentage of times a stream was played.
- Completion rate – Displays the percentage of viewers who watched the last segment of an asset.
- Avg. percentage watched – Displays the avg. time watched divided by the duration of the stream as a percentage. This value can be greater than 100% if viewers are re-watching the asset without refreshing the page.
- Avg. time watched – Displays the total time watched divided by the number of plays. This value can be greater than the duration of the asset if viewers are re-watching the asset without refreshing the page.
- Devices – Displays the types of devices on which the stream was viewed including the number of devices and percentage per each device type.
- Renditions – Displays the number of viewers per each rendition. A rendition is typically the resolution of a stream and is measured in pixels.
- Countries – Displays the unique viewers by country and the percentage of viewers per country over the time period selected.
- Top Videos – Displays the top videos streamed in an account. It also displays the number and percentage of viewers each stream had in the specified time frame.
- Top Live streams – Displays the top live streams streamed in an account. It also displays the number and percentage of viewers each stream had in the specified time frame.
Note: When you filter the current analytics data for an individual stream (live stream or video), the Top Videos and Top Live streams data won't be displayed.
There’s an Export CSV (or an icon representing this function) button you can click to export data in a specific table or chart to a CSV file. You can find the button at the top-right corner of every section on the analytics page. Use this data for tracking or metrics in other applications.
Note: The data for Popularity and Engagement charts are returned from Wowza Flowplayer. If you're using a different player for your live stream, you must change to Wowza Flowplayer to take advantage of this player-driven data. You’ll also need to use the Wowza CDN to receive all other analytics data.
Quality of Experience
Quality of Experience (QoE) metrics in Wowza Video track aspects of the viewing experience with streaming video to ensure a seamless viewing experience. For example, rebuffer time is a QoE metric that captures the total duration a video pauses to load additional data. If your rebuffer time is high, you can optimize encoding and reduce latency to improve the viewing experience. Analyzing and improving the QoE metrics contribute to a better viewing experience, increasing viewer satisfaction and retention.
Note: Quality of Experience metrics is a premium feature available exclusively to Wowza Video subscribers with an annual subscription. To access this feature for enhanced streaming insights, contact our sales team.
The different quality of experience metrics we provide are:
Video start time – The duration it takes for a stream to begin playback after the playback is initiated by the viewer. It measures the time from when the user clicks play until the video actually starts. This metric is essential for evaluating user experience, as a shorter video start time signifies a more responsive and seamless viewing experience.
Rebuffer time – The total duration during which video playback is interrupted to load additional data. This occurs when the video player runs out of buffered content due to network limitations or insufficient bandwidth, leading to pauses in playback.
Rebuffer count – The total number of times a video stream pauses to buffer during playback. Each time the video player runs out of data and has to stop for additional content to load, it registers a rebuffering event. This metric is important for assessing the quality of the viewing experience.
You can do the following with the quality of experience analytics:
Filter by – You can filter data to see the QoE metrics of all live streams and videos, or a specific live or video. Start typing in the Filter by field to filter the stream names and choose one.
Devices – You can filter the types of device(s) on which the streams were viewed. For example, desktop, phone, tablet, etc.
Time frame – You can filter the metrics using the preset timeframes or enter a custom time frame by selecting a date and time in the From, To, and Time fields.
View and analyze data for the stream(s) you filtered for:
- Plays by device – Displays the number of times a stream is played on different devices.
- Total plays – Displays the total number of plays for a stream.
- Video start time – The chart displays the time, in seconds, it took for the selected stream(s) to start video playback on devices during the specified time frame. Hover over the chart to view the video start time for a specific date and device.
- Median start time – Displays the median video start time for the selected stream(s) during the specified time frame.
- Bottom 5% – Displays the video start time for 5% of streams with the highest video start time.
- Rebuffer time – The chart displays the rebuffer time, in seconds per hour of playback, for the selected streams on devices within the specified time frame.
- Average rebuffer time – Displays the average time a video pauses to load additional data during playback.
- Rebuffer count – The chart displays the number of rebuffer events per play for the selected streams on devices within the specified time frame.
- Average rebuffer count – Displays the average number of rebuffer events per play.
