According to new research from the Consumer Technology Association, 68% of video subscribers in the US use free or paid streaming, and for the first time this is now greater than the number of paid linear TV subscribers, which now stands at 67%.
The research report “The Changing Landscape for Video and Content”, also shows that the time consumers spend watching video content on laptops, tablets and smartphones, which is 49%, is almost equal to the time spent watching video content on linear TVs, which is 51%, both figures being for 2016. In fact, the time spent watching video content on linear TVs has fallen from 62% in 2012 to last year’s 51%.
The amount consumers watch on a weekly basis on average increased from 12.7 hours in 2011 to 16.8 hours last year, with the increase being 32% when compared to the 2001 figure.
Most consumers find out what content is available through traditional methods such as TV commercials (56%), word-of-mouth (54%) and Internet search (32%). Although, about 20% cite streaming service recommendations (23%), social media (21%) or radio, TV or podcast host recommendations (16%) as content discovery sources.
In US households, where 96% have TVs and average 2.8 TVs per household, 4K Ultra HD TVs are among the fastest growing segment. Projected shipments of 4K UHD displays are predicted to reach 15 million units in 2017 (up 51%) and earn $14.6 billion in revenue (up 38%) with sales of all TVs expected to reach $19 billion in revenue in 2017, on par with 2016’s figures.
