• by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, July 25, 2016

About two-thirds of adults use a subscription VOD service, and nearly half use that service as much as or more than their pay-TV service. That’s the finding of a recent survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers conducted by IBM Cloud Video.  Younger consumers use SVOD even more frequently; 72% of millennials say they watch SVOD services as much as or more than pay TV.

The connected TV is the favorite way to watch, with 43% choosing that as their primary screen for watching SVOD, compared to 25% who watch mostly on a tablet or smartphone.

Generally speaking, the allure of additional content is the reason viewers sign up for an SVOD service in the first place. In the study, 38% of respondents said they added SVOD service to bolster existing movie and TV options, while 14% said SVOD was the only place to find certain shows like “House of Cards.”

However, Amazon Prime Video customers usually sign up for the service because they want the free shipping benefits of Amazon Prime, rather than video. Still, they often check out the video services provided with Amazon Prime. About 75% of Prime users now watch video with the subscription. Amazon has also said that Prime users who watch video often re-up their Prime service each year at a higher rate than those who don’t, underscoring that video helps Amazon with other business goals.

The study found that 72% of SVOD users subscribe to Netflix, 14% to Amazon Prime Video, and 7% to Hulu.