Although they represent less than 5% of TV households, homes with broadband Internet but without paid TV are on the rise, the latest Nielsen Cross-Platform Report found. The percentage of people in that category rose 22.8% over last year.
“Whether they’re cord-cutters or former broadcast-only homes that upgraded to Internet service, those homes represent a very small but growing group of U.S. consumers,” Nielsen said in an announcement of the results.
Interestingly, Nielsen found that twice as much video is streamed in these homes while half as much TV is watched as compared to the overall population. Nevertheless, these OTA broadcast-only/broadband home viewers spend the majority of their TV viewing time watching traditional TV: 122.6 minutes on the average day as compared to 11.2 minutes for online streaming, the report found.
On average, Americans spend 33 hours every week watching video across screens large and small, Nielsen said. But increasingly viewers are “seeking out the entertainment option that makes the most sense for them,” Nielsen said.
More than 75% of viewers now pay for broadband service, up from just shy of 71% last year, while 90.4% pay for cable, telco-provided or satellite TV. Homes with both paid TV and broadband increased 5-1/2%. But results varied from one type of paid TV to another. While the number of homes subscribing to cable decreased 4.1% year-over-year; telco and satellite TV services increased 21.1% and 2%, respectively.
Broadcast-only/broadband home viewers spend as much time watching traditional TV, streaming or using the Internet as the overall population of cross-platform viewers, though the amount of time spent viewing via these different modes varies. Even broadcast-only/broadband home viewers spend the majority of their TV viewing time watching traditional TV: 122.6 minutes on the average day as compared to 11.2 minutes for online streaming, the report found.
