Parks Associates today announced that, as of the third quarter of 2017, 12% of US broadband households use a live streaming platform like Facebook Live or Periscope. The profile for live streamers is generally younger, with 19% of consumers ages 18-24 engaging in live streaming activity, but live streaming of TV shows and sports indicates that more older viewers might be using these solutions to access illegal streams of content.
Brett Sappington, Senior Director of Research at Parks Associates, said:
“8% of broadband households have used live streaming apps to watch TV shows, while 7% have used live streaming apps to watch sports. Some sports franchises and leagues are legitimately live streaming their content, but much of the produced content on these live streaming platforms remains unsanctioned”.
Sappington also commented:
“Over one-third of households live-streaming TV shows or sports indicate the programming was available, but they opted for live-streaming because they did not want to pay for access. Over one-quarter stated that they accessed the content via live streaming because the price of the programming was too high. While these figures ultimately represent less than 5% of US broadband households, they are a significant portion of those watching app-based live streams”.
Additional data from the report includes:
- 18% of “cord nevers” indicate they use the credentials of someone outside their household to access an online video service.
- Among pay TV subscribers, only 7% indicate they use IDs and passwords for video services from people who do not live in their household.
- 14% of cord-cutters use others’ credentials for online video services, double the rate of use by pay TV subscribers.
- 45% of US broadband households are very concerned about downloading a virus or malware when downloading or streaming video.
