• by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, October 21, 2016

The number of homes with more than one streaming service is rising. About 16% of U.S. viewing homes subscribe to multiple SVOD services, and that’s up from 10% three years ago, according to a new study from GfK research. The research firm calls these consumers “self-bundlers” and has found that those who pay for more than one service, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu, are more likely to have kids under 18 at home -- to the tune of 50%, compared to an average of 41% among all weekly viewers.

GfK suggests that younger consumers may be steering the ship in this arena, and guiding their parents’ decisions about which services to use.

This group of self-bundlers also has a higher than average income -- $90,000 per year, compared to $76,000 for what GfK deems “average weekly viewers.”

As these consumers add on more streaming services, they may opt for less traditional TV. About 67% of this group has a traditional pay-TV service, compared to 75% for average weekly viewers.

Overall, about half of the viewing population subscribes to at least one streaming service, while 17% have Netflix and Amazon Prime, 9% have Netflix and Hulu, and 5% have gone whole hog with all three services, GfK says. The researcher defines the viewing population as anyone who has watched video at least once per week via any means, which equates to about 95% of the total U.S. population between 13 and 64.

In related news, for the month of September, TV viewing on Internet-connected devices jumped 64% year-over-year, comprising 8.3% of total TV use among adults 18-49 on a total day basis, according to a new report from Pivotal Research.