• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, September 1, 2020

More than three-quarters — 78% — of U.S. households now have a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Hulu, according to consumer research from Leichtman Research Group conducted in June and July.

That’s up from up from 69% in 2018, and 52% in 2015, reports Leichtman, which has been conducting its Emerging Video Services study for 14 years (methodology below).

In addition, 55% of U.S. households now have more than one of those SVOD services — up from 43% in 2018 and 20% in 2015.

When 12 additional streaming video services are included, 82% of all U.S. households have at least one SVOD or direct-to-consumer service, and 49% have three or more services.

Usage is also up significantly, with 40% of all adults now streaming an SVOD service on a daily basis, according to Leichtman. That’s up from 30% in 2018 and 16% in 2015. 

Younger adults are the most active streamers. More than half (55%) of those ages 18 to 44 stream an SVOD daily, compared to 27% of those 45 and older. The younger group accounts for 63% of daily SVOD users.

Nearly a third (30%) who have Netflix agree that their subscription is shared with others outside their household, compared to 23% with Hulu and 20% with Amazon Prime.

Fifty-five percent of adults report watching video on non-TV devices (including mobile phones, home computers, tablets and/or e-readers) on a daily basis. That’s up from 46% in 2018 and 33% in 2015.

Forty-four percent of adults watch video on a mobile phone daily — up from 35% in 2018 and 20% in 2015.

“The adoption and use of the established SVOD services, along with newer direct-to-consumer streaming video options, have increased over the past year, spurred more recently by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic,” summed up Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for the research group.  

This year’s study is based on a survey of about 1,990 U.S. adults (1,175 online and 815 via telephone, including landlines and cell phones), according to LRG. The random sample was distributed and weighted to reflect the demographic and geographic makeup of the U.S. The sample has a statistical margin of error of +/- 2.2%.