About 11% of U.S. consumers ages 18-44 subscribe to an internet-delivered pay TV service, Leichtman Research Group said.
The numbers help showcase the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. pay TV business, which is approaching about 5 million total subscribers, according to data put out by another research company in late January.
Leichtman also said that 12% of U.S. adults who have moved in the last year have a virtual MVPD like Sling TV, DirecTV Now, Sony PlayStation Vue, Hulu with Live TV or YouTube TV, as opposed to only 6% of nonmovers.
Remarkably, only 3% of U.S. adults older than 45 subscribe to a vMVPD.
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Other notable data points from Leichtman’s most recent report:
- 69% of vMVPD users report being very satisfied with their service, but 27% indicated they’re likely to switch to another provider within the next six months.
- 24% of those who don’t currently subscribe to a vMVPD said they’re very interested in changing that.
- 76% of vMVPD users said there are must-have channels in their package, meaning they’re not just indiscriminately subscribing to their bundle.
- Among all vMVPD subscribers, 93% also have a subscription video-on-demand service like Netflix or Hulu.
- 49% of vMVPD subscribers also have an over-the-air antenna for broadcast channels.
- Perhaps most curious of all, 35% of vMVPDs users also subscribe to traditional cable, satellite or telco TV
Leichtman said it based results for its study, “Internet-Delivered Pay-TV Services,” on an online survey of 6,947 households throughout the U.S.
"There is clearly a growing niche market for lower-cost/lower-channel live streaming pay-TV services—particularly among younger, more mobile renters, and those living in households with more people," said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group. "Currently, these internet-delivered pay-TV services are augmenting other sources of video in home, and consumers are experimenting with the various streaming pay-TV services to discover what combinations of video offerings work best for their household."