Commentary
Young Connected TV Viewers Favor Over-The-Top Fare
- by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, October 17, 2013
That’s the finding of a new study from NPD Group’s Connected Intelligence. The research firm found that 75% of 18- to 34-year-olds with connected TV sets or devices watch video over the Internet on those devices. About 68% use those connected devices to watch programming from a cable, satellite or telco provider.
That’s an interesting finding, because it suggests that over-the-top content is rising in overall appeal. A connected TV or device evens the playing field between multichannel provider-delivered video and over-the-top video since both are easy to access on such a set. Younger consumers expect broadband experiences from their screens, NPD Connected Intelligence said.
Those with streaming media players are the most likely to use the connected TV screen to watch over-the-top videos, with 81% doing so. About 77% of Blu-ray owners watch over-the-top videos, followed by 73% of connected video game console owners, then by 66% of consumers who directly connect their TVs to the Web, the study said.
The numbers shift for the 35-to-54 age group, with that demo having a slight preference for watching TV from a pay TV provider on their connected TVs.
Netflix is the most popular of the over-the-top services in the 18-to-34 crowd, followed by YouTube, Amazon Prime Video and then Hulu Plus. NPD suggested that pay-TV providers might start offering Netflix as part of their services. That’s a possibility that some operators are said to be considering.
In the study, NPD Connected Intelligence surveyed more than 5,000 US consumers online regarding their use of computers, smartphones, tablets and connected TVs.
Self reported viewing habits? We learned a half century ago that self reported viewing behavior never (never) reflects actual viewing behavior. Another study to be ignored in its entirety. When the fundamental approach is flawed, so are the results.
As Doug has pointed out, self reported usage data isn't very good. Of greater concern is the misleading presentation of the data. The quoted figures lack any perspective on the quantity of usage, which current research shows is dominated by traditional TV. Simply put, availability doesn't equal usage.
The comments are much better than the article. I'm authors know about the problems with self-reported behavior and data that exaggerates frequency by reporting on whether people *ever* do something and ignores how often. But again and again these issues get ignored. Any chance of a follow-up post discussing why?
I'm [sure that] authors