• by Wayne Friedman , May 22, 2014

TV Everywhere, while making gains with users, still suffers from a lack of awareness and understanding.

A new study from Viacom says that for those who are not using TV Everywhere platforms -- either TV content providers and/or pay TV providers -- "the biggest barriers to adoption are a lack of perceived need, concerns about hidden costs, lack of awareness and screen size.”

One of the biggest problems is where to find TV Everywhere platforms and apps. Some 17% of users discover TV Everywhere from a TV commercial, while 16% are made aware by a spouse or partner, and 54% of kids learn about it from their parents.

While almost 20% of users say they have no problems with their TV Everywhere experience, there are are tech-related issues: 24% report loading/buffering issues and 23% point to crashing/freezing.

On the plus side, Viacom says TV Everywhere can be additive to the traditional TV viewing experience -- 64% report watching more TV overall, with 72% of millennials watching more TV.

In addition, 98% of TV Everywhere users say it adds value to pay TV subscriptions, and 93% are more likely to remain with their pay provider.

Thirty-one percent of viewers using TV Everywhere report that they re-watch episodes, and 22% start a show from the first season. Over two-thirds says TV Everywhere sites offer more often than other third-party or free sites. The reasons are because it has more shows overall (42%), offers the shows/series they want to watch (38%) and features exclusives (23%).

The methodology for the survey included digital online journals, focus groups and ethnographies in New York and Chicago. Online surveys were conducted with more than 1,300 Viacom viewers ages 13-49 and more than 600 kids ages 2-12. Participants included both users of TV Everywhere and non-users.

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