• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, March 25, 2016

According to a report from R. Thomas Umstead, presented by Horowitz Associates at the Cultural Insights Forum, young multicultural viewers are still subscribing to, and watching, traditional television that reflects their images and experiences.

Urban content viewers, (multicultural viewers watching TV content in heavily populated markets,) watch 51% of their weekly TV viewing live, while streaming represents 30% of their TV viewing, according to the study. The biggest consumers of live programming are Spanish-language dominant Hispanic (53%), and:

• Black viewers (58%)
• Asian (48%)
• White viewers (47%)

The reverse is true for urban Millennials, says the report, with 51% of 18-34 year olds’ weekly viewing coming from streaming services like Hulu and Netflix. Netflix serves as the first “go to” service for 39% of Millennials, compared with just 22% of Millennials who say live TV is their first choice.

Adriana Waterston, senior vice president of Insights and strategy for Horowitz Research, says “… the OTT experience is like multichannel viewing on steroids… more content than you could possibly want… on a wider variety of platforms… on a bunch of different devices… on a number of screens… “

75% of urban/multicultural Millennials subscribe to both pay TV and OTT/SVOD services. Only 17% of those viewers are very likely to cancel their pay TV subscriptions over the next six months, giving traditional television providers an opportunity to retain multicultural viewers by offering content that appeals to them when they want to see it, says the report.

Providing easy access to more robust “TV Everywhere” offerings from traditional cable networks, while finding a home for new and unique multicultural-themed content, will go along way in securing loyal multcultural subscribers as they get older, concludes the report.

Waterston finishes, noting  “… the traditional business model has been disrupted … you can’t ignore that fact… (however) viewers are not watching less television, but rather… watching in different, and possibly not adequately measured ways…”

For additional information, please visit here.