The number of broadcast-only TV households has risen 41% to 15.8 million over the past five years, according to a new study from Nielsen, commissioned by broadcaster Ion Media.
According to the report, over-the-air broadcast TV is appealing to younger viewers, as broadcast-only homes have a higher percentage of young viewers (median age 34.5) than total TV households (39.6). That goes for kids as well, as the report suggests that 39% of broadcast-only homes have children in the household, compared to 34% of total TV households.
The report also shows that broadcast-only homes have more working head of householders than total TV homes, with 67% in the labor force, and that broadcast-only homes have a higher composition of Hispanic, African-American and Asian households, at 42% compared to 30% of total TV households.
RELATED: Cord cutting climbs to 976K users, SNL Kagan's official tally says
The results from the Nielsen/Ion Media study seemingly coincide with the continuing uptick in cord cutting among pay-TV subscribers.
In the second quarter of 2017, linear pay-TV services lost 976,000 customers, according to SNL Kagan. The firm said that cable, satellite and telco MVPD services have lost a combined 1.8 million users in 2017 so far.
Meanwhile, SVODs like Netflix have continued to gain ground in households where pay-TV services are getting cut by broadband services remain.
Recent figures from Parks Associates indicate that 49% of U.S. households with broadband subscribe to Netflix.
For Netflix, this is just another indicator of the service’s penetration in the U.S. market. Earlier this year, a study from the Leichtman Research Group found that 54% of adults report subscribing to Netflix versus 53% who said they have a DVR.