The Diffusion Group (TDG) has released research that pretty much confirms what every doomsayer has suggested all along: Older consumers are more likely than their younger counterparts to subscribe to legacy pay TV services and, if the trend continues, tomorrow's household head won't be buying services from your local IPTV, cable or satellite dealer.
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The TDG research showed that younger consumers (aka Late Milennials) who are currently living with their parents are more likely to subscribe to an over-the-top play like Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) or Hulu Plus than they are to sign up for legacy pay TV services once they leave home, a TDG press release said.
The report titled "Late Millennials: A Study In Media Behavior" offers up some bad news for traditional pay TV providers across the IPTV, cable and satellite services space because "tomorrow's head-of-household is less favorably disposed than their predecessors toward legacy services and more favorably disposed toward OTT TV services," said Michael Greeson, president and principal analyst for TDG.
Greeson did concede that this trend will probably continue only as long as these younger viewers have something to watch.
"In the end it will still be less about the conduit and more about the content and the value the service provides," he said.
The research surveyed a random sample of more than 2,000 Late Milennials aged 18 to 24, half of whom lived at home. Of that group, 49 percent said they were "highly inclined" to sign up for an online video subscription once they were able to move out on their own. Only 31 percent said they were highly inclined to sign up for traditional pay TV service.
"While this data can be spun to rationalize a number of arguments, the simplest insight may be the most profound: the very fact that young consumers perceive online video services as somehow more desirable or necessary than incumbent pay TV services says volumes about the future of video," Greeson concluded.
For more:
- TDG issued this press release
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