Hulu, YouTube TV most popular among streaming TV services, UBS survey says

Among people considering streaming TV services, Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV are the most popular options, according to a new survey from UBS.

The new UBS Evidence Media Lab Consumption survey (conducted in Nov. 2018) found that willingness to sign up for streaming TV among respondents jumped from 28% in May 2018 to 33%. That interest was even higher in SVOD households, broadband-only homes and with younger demographics. While Hulu and YouTube piqued the most interest, UBS found that fewer people plan on having both streaming and traditional pay TV simultaneously.

“…Fewer respondents plan to ‘double up’ or keep both their traditional and streaming TV subscriptions, reversing an earlier dynamic where customers kept both as they tested new platforms,” wrote UBS analyst John Hodulik in a research note.

Among the 2,000 respondents to the survey, 201 said they had Hulu with Live TV and 183 said they had YouTube TV. DirecTV Now had the third most respondents and Sling TV the fourth, while the list rounded out with PlayStation Vue, Philo and fuboTV, in that order.

RELATED: A lot of people have no intention of cutting the cord, study shows

UBS’s survey also found that interest in cord cutting was on the rise: 20% of respondents said they’d cancel traditional TV in the next 12 months. That’s well ahead of the 11% who said the same thing in late 2017. Unsurprisingly, it was the younger demos who most often signaled willingness to cancel traditional TV.

“As younger generations increasingly shift to digital platforms, we believe traditional subs will remain under pressure,” wrote Hodulik. “Coast continues to be the primary motive for abandoning pay TV, but the survey also showed more citing streaming alternatives as a motive.”

The survey showed that other top reasons for cutting the cord were dissatisfaction with pay TV, considering streaming TV as an alternative, and free streaming platforms.

Among the pay TV providers who have reported quarterly earnings so far in 2019, the ongoing effects of cord cutting vary drastically. Cable providers including Charter and Comcast have fared relatively well, losing only 36,000 and 29,000 video subscribers, respectively, during the last quarter of 2018. But AT&T, which runs both DirecTV and U-verse, did not do as well, losing 391,000 traditional video subscribers during the latest quarter. AT&T’s streaming TV service DirecTV Now also gave back 267,000 subscribers, which the company attributed to a mass exodus of customers on promotional pricing plans.