• by Wayne Friedman , June 13, 2018

While the number of home-based streaming devices continues its steady growth, a sizable percentage of the marketplace does not have access.

As of fourth-quarter 2017, Nielsen says 30% of the marketplace does not have a smart TV, an internet-connected device (such as Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast and Amazon FireStick) or a video-game console.

Results improved slightly from the year before, when 36% did not have a home-based streaming device. (The survey doesn’t include smartphones or tablets.)

The report says multiple devices are also climbing. Thirty-four percent of all persons two years and older had at least one of these devices, while 27% had two and 9% had three.

The best results for ownership of streaming devices came from millennials -- 37% had one, 33% had two and 12% had three, with 18% having none. The oldest group of U.S. consumers, the “Greatest Generation,” had the least -- 26% had one device, and 63% did not have any.  

In 2018, over-the-air-only TV homes -- those using a digital antenna -- have grown by one-third in four years to 13.8% of U.S. homes, up from 10.3%. Broadband-only homes have more than tripled — from 1.7% in March 2014.

Nielsen say 22% of all people in the U.S. access their content through broadband-only, over-the-air, of virtual multichannel video program distributors (vMVPDs). Penetration is the highest among the younger groups -- 26% for Generation Z (Gen Z) (2-21 year olds) and 32% for Millennials (22-38 year-olds).