US millennials stream more than half of their TV

Streaming is the new norm for millennials with the key demographic using online sources to stream more than half of their TV and are more likely to turn to Netflix for TV than live, says Horowitz Research.



Horowitz 7 May 2016The State of Cable & Digital Media 2016 shows that 18-34 year-olds in the US are spending 54% of their TV viewing time streaming and just a quarter live. In terms of total TV content consumed by viewers aged over 18, half is live and 29% is streamed.

The latest annual Horowitz study of the shift from live, DVR, and VOD to streaming also found that since 2012, the weekly share of viewing that is streamed has risen from 15% in 2012 to 54% in 2016. In the same period traditional viewing has dropped from 75% to 39% among millennials for whom just over a third (36%) say Netflix is their first ‘go-to’ source for TV content. By contrast 29% say they go to live TV.

However, despite the fact that streaming is steaming on, the survey found that traditional television continues to have value. Three-quarters (76%) of 18-34 year-olds use a combination of traditional and streamed content; just 13% use streaming exclusively.

“It’s an exciting time to be in the video industry,” observed Horowitz director of marketing and strategy Stephanie Wong. 

“Established MVPDs like Comcast and new players like Layer3 alike are seeking to improve the value proposition of pay TV and reinvent the traditional TV experience with features like voice control, social media integration, and a more seamless cross-platform viewing experience. Whether these features will be enough to keep Millennials with traditional distributors is the next big question.”