When a program is available simultaneously on a subscription
video on-demand (SVOD) streaming service and a live TV channel, adult U.S. SVOD viewers are on average more than twice as likely to prefer the former option.
But avoiding ads isn’t
necessarily the main reason for preferring SVOD, at least among younger adults.
Those are the takeaways from a survey conducted by the Aluma Insights media research firm in December
among 1,947 U.S. adult broadband users who are in charge of purchasing media services for their household and watch SVOD services on TV. The sample was balanced to be representative of SVOD viewers
and their households, according to Aluma.
The younger the adult, the more likely they were to prefer the paid streaming service option.
Only those 65 and older preferred to
watch a new show on a traditional live channel: 37% for linear versus 28% who prefer streaming.
Those 55 to 64 were 1.4 times more likely to prefer SVOD over live TV, and those 18 to 24 were
5.3 times more likely to prefer the streaming format.
Asked about their reasons for preferring SVOD, less advertising was cited by all groups, but older adults put more stress on that
factor than younger ones. (The survey did not offer ad-supported streaming services as a third option or alternative to live linear.)
Younger respondents were more likely to emphasize that
SVOD is the place where they already watch shows most of the time, that it allows for watching shows at their convenience versus on a schedule, and that it’s easier to find interesting content
to watch than it is on live TV.
It is “telling” that even the 55 to 64 segment, who were middle-aged adults when Netflix launched in 2007, prefer SVOD, says Michael Greeson,
founder and chief analyst at Aluma.
“The results of our study are pretty straightforward. When networks consider where to debut programming to best reach younger adults, an
SVOD-first strategy will work best,” he asserts.