Study: US homes consume 43.5hrs of video per week
April 16, 2024
A study from research firm Parks Associates, The Viewer Journey: Navigating Streaming Options, reveals US Internet households now consume 43.5 hours of video per week on average across all viewing devices, an increase of more than six hours from 37.2 hours in 2020. Additionally, 61 per cent of households watch paid streaming services on a TV set, consuming an average of 7.5 hours per week of content from these services.
The study examines how viewers navigate to video content across broadcast, traditional pay TV, and streaming video models, including SVoD, AVoD/FAST, TVoD, and vMVPD (streaming TV) services. The research finds 50 per cent of people who consume video on a viewing device (TV, computer, tablet, or phone) watch a free, ad-supported service (FAST) or ad-based video on-demand service (AVoD) at least once a week.
“Video-viewing households report watching on average more than 21 hours per week on a TV, accounting for half of their viewing hours,” advises Sarah Lee, Research Analyst, Parks Associates. “Video consumption on a cell phone continues to rise—excluding social video sources, US Internet households spend 6.5 hours per week watching video a smartphone and 3.9 hours on a tablet. TVs are still the main video-viewing device, but platform usage continues to diversify.”
The study reports that paid streaming services are the most popular content type consumed across TV, mobile, computers, and tablets, but households watch several different types of services across their devices over the week. Seventy-eight per cent of households report watching an SVoD service weekly, followed by 67 per cent of households who watch user-generated content such as that from YouTube.
“The flexibility and convenience that on-demand services offer is highly appealing to viewers, but many households enjoy a balance between finding something to watch and watching what they find,” notes Lee. “Given the popularity of FAST and user-generated content, consumers may soon decide they do not need to subscribe to as many services as they do now.”