Despite a plethora of connected devices both within and outside the home, most people want to watch live TV on their TV, a pair of reports has concluded.
A global study conducted by market opinion and research firm Ipsos OTX did find the expected diminishing returns on the types of people who prefer live television. The largest group, 91 percent, were comprised of those aged 50 to 64; the smallest, 81 percent, were under 35. The under-35 crowd also led the way in watching TV on a computer or laptop (35 percent) and streaming from the Internet (20 percent) but came in last (15 percent) at using a DVR. The leaders in that category were the gray hairs at 18 percent.
Watching live TV is most popular in France, where 93 percent of the people prefer it that way and least popular in Canada, where only 77 percent chose that method. The U.S. fell in at 81 percent, the results showed.
BroadStream Solutions, in its own study, showed remarkably similar results in its own survey, concluding that "linear (scheduled) TV is still overwhelmingly the preferred method for watching TV."
BroadStream's statistics indicated that 84 percent of U.S. adults watch favorite programs and events on TV and "very few Americans want to watch on smaller screens." About 2 percent prefer tablets or mobile phones, 4 percent like desktops and 7 percent like laptops.
Even the DVR, the researchers said, is part of a traditional method of watching TV.
"Everything evolves from traditional, scheduled playout--consumers record shows from it and there is no DVR without it," Manhis Sachdeva, CEO of BroadStream Solutions said in a press release.
Finally, if those viewing eyes are pasted to broadcast programming, they're not really paying that much for the privilege, statistics from SNL Kagan indicate. Broken down by what MVPDs pay to broadcasters for the right to carry their programming, retransmission fees account for only 8.9 percent of total fees MVPDs pay for content. Basic cable, meanwhile, consumes 10.5 percent of the programming budget.
For more:
- Ipsos has this press release
- BroadStream Solutions has this press release
- and Multichannel News has this story
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