Television antennas, which fell out of favor with the onset of cable and satellite television, are starting to make a comeback, according to new TV antenna market research from Horowitz Research.
Just over one third (34%) of TV content viewers are accessing over-the-air TV content via an antenna, according to the research firm. Though the technology was primarily used by their grandparents, today’s antenna owners are younger (40% of antenna owners are 18-34 vs. 31% of total TV content viewers).
Additionally, just over half (51%) of traditional MVPD non-subscribers own an antenna, according to Horowitz. These owners are more likely to subscribe to one of the three major SVOD services (78% subscribe to Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video, vs. 67% of TV content viewers). The research firm added that antennas are found in some traditional MVPD subscriber households, with 30% of traditional MVPD subscribers owning one.
According to the research, antenna owners spend just under one-fifth (19%) of their viewing time watching on an antenna, 44% streaming and 32% through an MVPD, watching live, DVR, or VOD (the remaining time is with DVDs).
“Many TV viewers have long felt tied to traditional cable because of their desire to stay connected to live news and sports, along with local and national content from broadcasters,” said Stephanie Wong, Horowitz’s director of insights and strategy, in a prepared statement. “With today’s stronger signals and advances in technology, along with improved design aesthetics, antennas are re-emerging as an inexpensive and practical way of accessing TV content. Further, with newer technologies that allow for DVR’ing over-the-air content, including TiVo’s Bolt OTA, Plex, and Amazon’s Fire TV Recast, viewers are finding that they can piece together their ‘cable service’ using SVOD services and over-the-air broadcasts at what they perceive to be a dramatically reduced cost.”
