Millennials turn from TV to streaming

Broadcasting & Cable - According to the preliminary results of the second NATPE||Content First and the Consumer Electronics Association joint research study on consumers’ attitudes toward television viewing, just 55 percent of millennials use TVs as their primary viewing platform, while streaming devices – laptops, tablets, and smartphones – are poised to dominate their viewing preferences.

“While the vast majority of consumers continue to watch television programming on their TV, many consumers, particularly millennials, increasingly are turning to a variety of devices to view their TV content,” said CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro. “This has profound implications for the way CE manufacturers market their products as they try to reach diverse markets.”

Although many viewers of streaming programs say they are watching more TV programs overall, the joint study shows a decline in the amount of time spent watching live television programs during their scheduled air time. This is particularly true of the younger, millennial demographic which has some distinctive, common characteristics, including the regular use of multiple sources of program content.

Among the study’s findings:

· Millennials flock to streaming. The millennial demographic group - age 13 to 34 - is comfortable using many different sources of TV program content and consequently are significantly more likely to consume full-length TV programs from a streaming source (84 percent streamed in the past six months) than live TV programming at its original air time (54 percent), or recorded content from a DVR (33 percent).

· Millennials value their Netflix subscriptions more than broadcast or cable. Millennials value their ability to stream content above cable or broadcast channels. The ability to choose what they want to watch when they want to watch it is of high value to all three generational groupings, but particularly among millennials. In the study, 51 percent consider subscription to Netflix “very valuable,” compared to 42 percent for broadcast channels, and 36 percent for cable subscriptions.

· Gen Xers love video on demand and DVRs. Gen Xers tend to be the heaviest users of their cable/satellite/telco time shifting offerings including video on demand and DVR. Among those in this age group who have access to VOD, 76 percent use their VOD service once a week or more often, similar to SVOD usage. The study found DVRs are primarily used to avoid commercials, while VOD is for convenience.