Advanced Television

New ways to watch video increasing

March 5, 2010

Consumer research from Leichtman Research Group has found that 24 per cent of all US households have a television connected to the Internet. These connections vary from connecting through a video game system, a Blu-Ray player, or the TV set itself. While Internet connectivity has become a common built-in feature in many products, consumers are just beginning to use this feature to watch video from the Internet.

Overall, just 1 per cent of all adults watch video from the Internet via one of these devices daily, and 5 per cent weekly. And usage is heavily skewed to young men, with 16 per cent of men ages 18-34 watching video from the Internet via one of these connected devices weekly, compared to three per cent weekly use among all others.

These findings are based on a survey of 1,250 households throughout the United States, and are part of a new LRG study, Emerging Video Services IV.

Other findings include:

– 20 per cent of households have a video game system connected to the Internet, 8 per cent have an Internet-connected TV set, and 6 per cent have a Blu-Ray player with an Internet connection (some households have more than one of these)

– 55 per cent of Netflix subscribers report that they used the “Watch Instantly” feature in the past month — overall, 1 per cent of all adults use Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” daily, and 4 per cent weekly

-5 per cent of those online at home strongly agree that they would be willing to pay $9.95 per month to watch TV shows online from a service like Hulu, while 81 per cent strongly disagree

-Among all individuals online at home, 4 per cent strongly agree that they would consider disconnecting their TV service to just watch video online — compared to 3 per cent last year, and 4 per cent two years ago

“Despite speculation that consumers are 'cutting the cord' to cable, satellite or Telco video services and choosing to watch video exclusively online or through other alternatives, there remains little evidence of this being a trend,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, “Emerging video services do not necessarily create either/or scenarios in decisions to subscribe to a video service or not. Rather, they create opportunities and trade-offs in how, when, what, and where to consume the increasing video entertainment options.”

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