Heavy video streaming may not necessarily be cannibalizing traditional pay TV -- it may be helping out in some cases, according to one survey.
A report from Kantar company TNS, a
media consultant/advisory, says that “while streamers are more likely than non-streamers to downgrade their level of traditional pay TV service -- 9% versus 6% -- they are also more likely to
upgrade their level of service -- 16% versus 6%.
And of those that make improvements? Those consumers who many pay TV providers fear losing -- young viewers and millennials.
Adults
under age 30, who comprise less than 20% of all pay TV subscribers with streaming technology, represent one-third of TV homes that recently purchased more channels and/or features from their
traditional video provider.
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Streaming has been steadily growing. In the third quarter, 34% of respondents said they have “streamed in the past month,” up from 27% in the third
quarter of 2012. But the eye-opening statistic comes when the survey asked those who have paid for a stream during the past month. That number was 26% versus 16% in the third quarter of 2012.
Overall, TNS says pay TV households that also stream video are more than twice as likely as non-streaming households to have made a change to their service level with their pay TV provider -- 25%
against 12%.
TNS’ survey was of nearly 25,000 U.S. homes.
"Watching TV" photo from
Shutterstock.