• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, April 7, 2023

YouTube TV and Netflix are the individual streaming services most-viewed by adults 18 to 54, with 35.2% and 33.6% watching them more than once a month on connected TV (CTV) or another connected device, according to Publishers Clearing House’s new research arm, PCH Consumer Insights.

The results, based on online interviews with 16,650 18-plus consumers registered with PCH and weighted by age and income to be representative of the U.S. population, show Amazon Prime Video (27.5%), Hulu (26.4%) and Disney+ (25.5%) closely matched, with HBO Max slightly lower (19.2%) and Peacock and Paramount+ tied at 16.2% each.

Notably, free, ad-supported services Tubi is in the top 10, at 13.6% —and sibling FAST Pluto (9%) is close behind, with far more established, paid streamer Roku sandwiched between them.

The “Streaming in Flux” report also shows the rankings sorted by company.

Disney — with Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ and the bundle deal that includes all three — comes out the clear leader, with 35.4% of adults saying they stream one or more of these more than once per month. Hulu’s draw, particularly for younger adults, is a key factor here, according to the research.

While long-established solo-streamer brands YouTube and Netflix hold the No. 2 and 3 positions with 27.6% and 25.2%, respectively, Amazon — which has FreeVee and Twitch as well as Prime Video — is close behind, at 21.4%.

Warner Bros. Discovery, with (soon-to-be semi-merged) Discovery+ and HBO Max, and Paramount Global (Paramount+, Pluto, CBSN and the CBS News and CBS Sports HQ streamers) are neck-and-neck at about 17% each.

Comcast (Peacock, Fandango Media and others) lags by five percentage points.

The fact that Tubi, on its own, is in eighth place again speaks to the growing draw of FASTs.

That trend is underscored even more strongly by the results when consumers are asked about their  use of various TV viewing platforms: broadcast, pay-TV/MVPD, virtual MVPD, paid streaming and free streaming (chart top of page).

Among those under 45, streaming options far outstrip broadcast and pay-TV options, with 71% combined saying they stream daily or weekly through paid or free platforms — and free streaming  now actually the top choice, at 38% to paid streaming’s 33%.

Cable/satellite pay-TV/MVPDs are at 20%, vMVPDs at 17% and broadcast at just 14%.

Even among those 46 to 54, streaming as a whole dominates, at 51% — including 29% who report using free streaming platforms daily or weekly.

A third of this age group still uses pay-TV platforms daily or weekly, 22% use broadcast, and 15% use vMVPDs.

Of course, the usage numbers for pay TV and broadcast are higher when surveys include those 55 and older.