TV Streaming Rises As Digital Usage Increases

Nearly 30% of all TV viewing -- subscription, free video sites, connected TV devices -- comes via digital streaming, according to a new survey.

Subscription or free online platforms for a computer or mobile device account for 16% of time spent with TV content, according to a new GfK MRI report. Connected TV streaming -- traditional TV set -- amount to 9%; and 3% comes from game consoles and other platforms.

‘Live viewing when broadcast’ is still number one way to consume TV shows, accounting for 39% of all time spent using TV content. Smartphones and tablets account for 8% of all TV time.

Forty-one percent of TV viewers are what the report calls “digital enthusiasts,” who subscribe to at least three digital TV services online as well as maintaining a traditional pay TV subscription: cable, satellite, or telco.

Some 44% of these digital enthusiasts use TV network apps that do not require a cable subscription; 35% use TV network apps requiring a cable subscription. Overall, they spend $10.80 per month on apps, and 57% are also frequent binge viewers.

The average number of apps used to view TV programs in the past 30 days is about seven for mobile devices.

The GfK MRI report is based on a re-contact survey conducted from January to April 2015 among 5,599 respondents.

5 comments about "TV Streaming Rises As Digital Usage Increases".
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  1. ida tarbell from s-t broadcasting, July 8, 2015 at 2:27 p.m.

    Just 39% are live viewing?  No wonder the Big Four aren't even programming seriously at night anymore and many daytime network affiliate schedules are dotted with infomercials.  I don't even turn regular tv on much.  Quietly, black people are taking over the host roles in daytime, without fanfare, probably because blacks have been most loyal to the networks. The View put a GOP PR operative in place, ruining the perfect leftist cacaphony that existed earlier on the show. The talk shows are all losing share in the post-Oprah era.  Viewers have found a way around programmers who keep playing the same boring movies because they get consistent numbers, when people have seen those to death.  People are programming themselves rather than letting others do it.  That's the way it should be.  I have a decade old Mac desktop in need of repurposing. I watched some youtube on it yesterday, but need a brilliant program idea to use it today.  A year ago I couldn't get Middle of the Night (1959) after seeing half of it on TCM.  Finally I found it in a Kim Novak 4 film DVD from a library. But 2 weeks ago, I found it had drifted into public domain space on youtube, so I'm going to thumb it up now on the mac desktop, while I write on this PC.

  2. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, July 8, 2015 at 3:14 p.m.

    Ida, I haven't seen the MRI report, as yet, however, it's not true that only 39% of the adult population views "live" TV----more like 95%+ do. It's all a matter of frequency. The latest Nielsen analysis ( 1st Q 2015 )  shows that live plus a relatively small amount of delayed viewing by 18-24s is down by about 30% from the same point in 2010, while there have been somewhat less severe losses in the teen and 25-34 age groups. Still, viewing of "traditional TV" among the 65+ group is actually up by 10%.

    Also noteworthy is the fact that, even among 18-24s, the average weekly consumption of live plus delayed TV is about 20 hours, compared to 55 hours for the oldest segment.

    What is actually happening is the skewing, volumetrically, of "traditional TV" viewing more and more towards old folks---hence the rapid aging of the broadcast TV networks' primetime audience ( according to an analysis in our annual, "TV Dimensions 2015" ) which now stands at about 57 years.

    What will be really interesting will be the advent of hard data on SVOD ( subscription on demand services ) like Netflix, Hulu, etc. At present, it looks like these are garnering about 7-8 % of the average person's total TV usage. The big question is how high will that figure go?

  3. Randall Tinfow from CLICK-VIDEO LLC, July 8, 2015 at 3:19 p.m.

    The labels and numbers very confusing in this article.   "Smartphones and tablets account for 8% of all TV time."  What does that mean???

    Perhaps the author is using jumbled terminology as a metaphor for perplexed content owners.  They've yet to figure it out while Reed Hastings & Friends kicks their butts.


  4. Randall Tinfow from CLICK-VIDEO LLC, July 8, 2015 at 3:26 p.m.

    Agree, Ed.  To put it another way, how low will the television networks' share of cable and OTA viewing go?  Also....how will infrastructure limits affect the timing and uptake of SVOD?

  5. Stuart Meyler from Beeby Clark + Meyler, July 13, 2015 at 4:20 p.m.

    Part of the issue is we insist on calling it "TV" as if TV were still a medium and not merely a device for consuming all varities of video content - a device that we use in addition to our tablets, phones, and laptops. 

    Terminology aside, if anyone doubts for a second that traditional, appointment viewing of live network or cable video content on a TV isn't in trouble, I got a bridge I'd like to sell you...

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