No kidding, but streaming is the new black for Millennials, according to a new research report. And, if you are in the approximate 18-34-year-old range or you know someone who is, this won’t stun you in the least.
According to the “State of Cable & Digital Media 2016” report from Horowitz Research, Millennial TV viewers report spending 54 percent of their TV viewing time streaming and just 25 percent live. Across total TV content viewers 18+, the picture is flipped: 50 percent of viewing is live and 29 percent is streamed, according to the report.
The annual Horowitz study has been tracking the shift from traditional (live, DVR and VOD) to streaming, and shows that since 2012, the weekly share of viewing that is streamed has risen from 15 percent in 2012 to 54 percent in 2016, while traditional viewing has dropped from 75 percent to 39 percent among Millennials.
“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,” Stephanie Wong, Horowitz’s director of marketing and strategy, notes. “Whether these features will be enough to keep Millennials with traditional distributors is the next big question.”
The study also reveals that Millennials like Netflix more than live TV with 36 percent saying Netflix is their first go-to source for TV content. However, almost a third also say they go to live TV.
Traditional TV formats are reported as having continuing value, nevertheless. Three-quarters (76 percent) of 18-34 year-olds use a combination of traditional and streamed content, according to the research, with just 13 percent saying they use streaming exclusively.
