Research: 16% of US adults have vMVPD SVoD service

Consumer research from Leichtman Research Group (LRG) has found that 18-44 year-olds account for 71 per cent of adults in the US that have a live streaming vMVPD pay-TV service (such as Sling TV, DirecTV NOW, Hulu with Live TV, YouTube TV, or PlayStation Vue).  Overall, 16 per cent of adults ages 18-44 currently have a vMVPD service – compared to 6 per cent of ages 45 and above.

Of those that currently get a vMVPD service, 43 per cent switched directly from a traditional (cable, satellite, or Telco) pay-TV service, and 25 per cent also have a traditional service.  In addition, 17 per cent switched from another vMVPD service, and 15 per cent were most recently non-subscribers to any type of pay-TV service.

These findings are based on an online survey of 6,715 households from throughout the United States and are part of a new LRG study, Internet-Delivered Pay-TV Services 2019. This is LRG’s second annual study dedicated to this topic.

Other related findings include:

• 42 per cent with a vMVPD service are ages 18-34 – compared to 26 per cent of traditional pay-TV subscribers, and 33 per cent of pay-TV non-subscribers in TV households
• vMVPD subscribers have a mean annual household income similar to traditional pay-TV subscribers, but 33 per cent above non-subscribers in TV households
• 73 per cent of vMVPD subscribers are very satisfied with their service – but, 20 per cent are very likely to switch from a vMVPD service in the next six months
• 93 per cent with a vMVPD service also have an SVoD service from Netflix, Amazon Prime, and/or Hulu – compared to 71 per cent of traditional pay-TV subscribers, and 74 per cent of non-subscribers in TV households
• vMVPD subscribers watch these services at home 78 per cent of the time – compared to 82 per cent at home viewing of HBO NOW, and 88 per cent at home viewing of Netflix
• 24 per cent of those that do not currently have a vMVPD service are very interested in getting one

“vMVPD services were first introduced about four years ago, and the market for these lower-cost/lower-channel pay-TV services is still growing and evolving,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. “Consumers continue to experiment with the various vMVPD services, along with other traditional and streaming options, to find the best combinations of video content and cost.”