Paid streaming usage keeps surging
In yet another sign of streaming media’s growing dominance in the entertainment industry, the majority of U.S. households now subscribe to at least one digital video streaming service such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu, with a wealth of original content luring more viewers, according to a new survey by consulting firm Deloitte.
The company’s 12th annual digital media trends survey shows that streaming video adoption passed the halfway mark in 2017, with 55 percent of U.S. households now subscribing to paid services.
In less than a decade, the percentage of U.S. households subscribing to a paid streaming video service rose 450 percent — from just 10 percent in 2009 to 55 percent in 2017.
The survey, released Tuesday, found that 54 percent of streaming video subscribers said they had signed up to watch original content they can’t find anywhere else. Other factors include the ability to watch movies and shows at any time, as well as commercial-free content.
Nearly one-half, 48 percent, streamed television content every day or weekly in 2017, compared with just 37 percent of people in 2016. Viewers spend on average 38 hours watching video content each week, 15 hours (or 39 percent) of which is streamed.
One of the casualties of the trend has been traditional pay-TV service, such as cable and satellite bundles. As more people cut the cord, pay-TV penetration has fallen, dropping to 63 percent in 2017 after remaining steady at about 75 percent for years, according to the survey.
The study showed that 16 to 22 percent of Millennials, as well as those in Generations X and Z, have never subscribed to a pay-TV service and are probably unlikely to do so in the future. The majority of survey respondents said they felt they were paying too much for the value they received from a traditional pay-TV subscription.
Deloitte’s study found that Generation X — those who are between 35 and 51 years old — have picked up the viewing habits of younger generations, such as watching more content on mobile devices. Typically, as generations grow older, they tend to revert to the consumption patterns of parents.
“But what we’ve seen is the opposite. The older is becoming like the younger,” said Kevin Westcott, a Deloitte principal and leader of the company’s U.S. Media and Entertainment practice.
He said the proliferation of streaming options could lead providers to start bundling services in the coming years.
“I expect to see some form of reaggregation to happen maybe in 2019,” he said.