Awareness and use of TV Everywhere (TVE) cross-device and cross-platform Internet capabilities is higher for free TV Everywhere capabilities from television networks than it is for similar capabilities built into most pay-TV subscription packages, according to a survey of pay TV households from research firm GfK.
Nearly two-thirds (64%) of viewers in pay-TV homes said they are aware of TVE services from TV networks, with 37% saying they have used them. That compares to 52% awareness and 30% use of TVE services from pay-TV service providers, according to GfK’s “TV Everywhere 2012: A How People Use Media Report.”
Mobile platforms have quickly grown to become “a significant part of the TVE phenomenon.” Thirty percent of pay-TV respondents said they had used a TV network’s mobile website to access TVE features and 34% said they have used a mobile network app to do so. At 25% for mobile websites and 26% for apps, mobile TVE use was lower for pay-TV services.
Requiring viewers to pass through a user authentication process appears to be a significant deterrent, GfK found. Seventy percent of TVE users said they would be at least “somewhat deterred” from using TVE if they were required to go through an authentication process and 25% said they would be deterred “a lot.” More particularly, requiring user authentication is a TVE “deal breaker” for older respondents ages 50-64, according to GfK.
“Cooperation, rather than competition, among TVE stakeholders will benefit not just consumers, but the growth of the business as a whole,” David Tice, Gfk senior vice president of media, commented. “Standardizing and simplifying the authentication process across providers, and using a standard term or logo with consistency – whether it’s ‘TV Everywhere’ or something else – will help customers know what they are using and erase the barriers to greater use and demand.”
