Commentary

54% Of Smart TVs Now Used For Streaming Only, Just 5% For Pay-TV/OTA Content Only


The percentage of U.S. smart TVs used exclusively for watching streamed content rose from 45% in Q4 2021 to 54% in this year’s third quarter, according to the latest quarterly TV market trends report from ACR data provider Inscape. 

The percentage of smart TVs used to view content exclusively from …

3 comments about "54% Of Smart TVs Now Used For Streaming Only, Just 5% For Pay-TV/OTA Content Only".
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  1. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, November 16, 2023 at 7:52 a.m.

    Of course, there is a higher percentage of streaming usage via more modern, recently purchsed ACR sets. Is that a surprise? Yet, streaming accounts for only 35-40% of the average viewer's total TV time on whatever sets---ACR or "Dumb"---- that people across the nation are using and for all homes including those without ACR sets.

  2. Douglas Ferguson from College of Charleston, November 16, 2023 at 8:51 a.m.

    Whistling in the dark, Ed.
    Legacy channels have lost two-thirds of their value by your estimate.

  3. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, November 16, 2023 at 9:42 a.m.

    Hi Douglas---good to hear from you directly.

    As for whistling in the dark, data can be interpreted in many ways. For example, "legacy TV" has indeed lost share of viewing---it was once about 99%, now its only 50%. However, the base between those  periods also changed. Then, an average person devoted only 3.5 hours per day to "TV", now---with much more content available---it's more like 4.5 hours and some sources place the figure a bit higher. Also, the number of commercials presented has greatly increased on linear TV so the GRP decline where advertiser "audience" tonnage is concerned is not as great as the average minute rating decline.

    We just did an interesting analysis which will go out to our MDI Direct subscribers shortly. We took the pre-cable era (mid 1960s) , the cable at its high point era ( 2010 ) and the current situation, including streaming, and estimated how many commercials the average TV home adult resident not only watched per day but how many of these actually registered its message. Result: The pre-cable figure for message registration was around 17-18 per day. This rose to  32 about 15 years ago---before streaming made its mark but now it's declining --to 22--23----due to reduced attention rates, and  viewing to ad-supported TV. So, yes, advertisers should be concerned---but you can't evaluate TV's "value" only by share of audience stats. It's much more complicated than that.

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About the Author

Karlene Lukovitz is editor of MediaPost's "Digital News Daily" and writes the weekly "Video Insider" and "Advanced TV Insider" columns. You can reach her at karlene@mediapost.com.

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