OTA Minority Viewership Rises
- by Wayne Friedman , June 6, 2011
TV viewers with over-the-air broadcast-only programming continue to grow -- mostly among younger, lower-income and minority homes. U.S. viewers receiving over-the-air broadcast signals have risen about 10% to a total 45.6 million versus a year ago -- this according to Knowledge Networks. The research company says this amounts to 15% -- or around 17 million -- of all U.S. TV homes.
David Tice, vice president and group account director of Knowledge Networks' media practice, stated: "Our research reveals that over-the-air broadcasting remains an important distribution platform of TV programming, and that the estimated number of broadcast TV households in the U.S. has grown."
Four percent or 5 million of these TV homes say they eliminated a pay-TV subscription service because of the need to cut costs, as well as noting that these monthly services didn't offer enough value.
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Knowledge Networks said minorities make up 40% of all broadcast-only homes -- 23% are Hispanic-American homes, 25% are Asian-American homes and 17% are African-American homes.
Young viewers are the dominant demographic in broadcast-only homes -- 20% of homes where the head of the household is 18-34; 15% of homes where the age is 35-54; and 13% where the head of the home is 55 years of age or older.
Lower-income households are a big part of broadcast-only television, with 23% of homes with an annual income under $30,000 receiving TV signals solely over-the-air.
Why is anyone resorting to a survey? The cable industry and the satellite industry count subscribers of the entire population, which is a physical count, not a "self-reported" measurement of a sample. Cable has 60.7 percent and satellite has 30.5 percent, using November figures, which equals 91.2 percent. If only 85 percent of viewers are not using antennas, as KN would have us believe, then that means there's a 6 percent overlap of cable and satellite subscription. Really? That many homes with BOTH cable and satellite? C'mon, that does not pass the smell test.