People between the ages of 18 and 34 years of age are driving the live streaming Internet-delivered pay-TV sector, according to streaming video demographics research from the Leichtman Research Group.
The firm found that 53% of U.S. adults that have such a service are in this age group and that, overall, 12% of people in this age group are subscribers, while only 3% of people above 44 years of age are users. Overall, this category of service delivery is used by 11% of adults from 18 to 44 years of age. The category includes Sling TV, DIRECTV NOW, PlayStation Vue, Hulu with Live TV and You Tube TV.
Streaming Video Demographics
“Internet-Delivered Pay-TV Services” was based on an online survey of 6,947 households. It found that 93% of people with an Internet-delivery pay-TV service also have a subscription VOD service from Netflix, Amazon Prime and/or Hulu, 49% have a TV antenna for over-the-air broadcast television and 35% have a satellite, cable or telco subscription.
Other findings in the report:
- 12% of adults that moved in the past year have an Internet-delivered pay-TV service — compared to 6% of non-movers
- Internet-delivered pay-TV subscribers watch these services at home 78% of the time — compared to 80% at-home viewing of HBO NOW, and 88% at-home viewing of Netflix
- 69% of current Internet-delivered pay-TV subscribers are very satisfied with their service — yet 27% are very likely to switch from an Internet-delivered pay-TV service in the next six months
- 24% of those that do not currently have an Internet-delivered pay-TV service are very interested in getting one
- 76% of all adults agree that there are specific networks or programming genres that are “must haves” for a TV service in their household –- this includes 88% of those very interested in getting an Internet-delivered pay-TV service
People are exploring the options in an effort to cut costs. “There is clearly a growing niche market for lower-cost/lower-channel live streaming pay-TV services — particularly among younger, more mobile renters, and those living in households with more people,” said LRG’s president and principal analyst Bruce Leichtman in a press release. “Currently, these Internet-delivered pay-TV services are augmenting other sources of video in home, and consumers are experimenting with the various streaming pay-TV services to discover what combinations of video offerings work best for their household.”
The findings are complementary to a report last month from LRG that found that the attrition rate of top pay-TV providers accelerated last year. These providers lost almost twice as many subscribers in 2017 than they did in 2016.
