MLB says multitasking features have boosted live viewing in At Bat for iPad
Major League Baseball (MLB) has noted that the iPad's Slide-Over, Split-Screen, and Picture-in-Picture multitasking features have had a huge impact on how subscribers are using their At Bat application for iPad. In fact, it looks like the multitasking feature set accounts for an 86 percent increase in live viewing inside of At Bat for iPad.
Sports fans actually using the new multitasking features while consuming video saw the biggest increase.
Speaking with TechCrunch, MLB said the iPad's multitasking features have had a “profound impact” on how users are watching live video from Apple's tablet. On average, users who had access to these multitasking features were spending an additional 20 minutes extra watching live sports on their iPad, compared with their previous year's usage.
However, sports fans who were actually using the new features (Slide-Over, Split-View, and my personal favorite when it comes to video viewing on iOS, Picture-in-Picture) ended up spending a lot more time consuming live video on their iPad. This group of users saw an 86 percent increase in live video consumption, compared with their previous year's viewing habits, and clocked in an average 162 minutes per day watching content in MLB's At Bat.
MLB only collected data from users with iPads which support the full range of Apple’s multitasking features: the iPad Pro, iPad Air 2, and iPad mini 4. Of course, older devices can access Slide Over, too, but not Apple’s more processor-intensive multitasking features.
Owners of Apple's tablet spent more time viewing sports content inside of At Bat than any other application, the report added. “During the 2015 regular season (April through September 2015), At Bat users consumed 6.9 billion minutes compared with 6.1 billion for ESPN, 3.4 billion for Team Stream, 2.2 billion for Yahoo Fantasy Sports, and 1.8 billion for WatchESPN,” TechCrunch explained in its article.
You can download MLB’s At Bat free of charge on the App Store, and viewing requires a subscription.
