Advanced Television

ARF proposes new US TV connection framework

November 26, 2024

The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) has proposed a new framework for classifying how US households connect to TV. The new framework would replace the pay/BBO/OTA scheme the TV industry has relied on for years.

Data from the DASH TV Universe Study, including the first wave of DASH 2024, underscore the continued mainstreaming of streaming television, the ‘appification’ of pay-TV and the erosion of Broadband Only (BBO) penetration as a useful definition of TV connection. The findings and the recommended framework, summarised in a newly released ARF report, highlight shifts in US television usage that create fresh opportunities for advertisers and media companies.

Latest Key Findings from DASH:
  • The penetration of paid AVoD services has exploded over the past two years, from 17 per cent in 2022 to 63 per cent in Spring 2024
    • The two largest streaming services, Netflix and Prime Video, accounted for the vast majority of the most recent gain
    • SVoD penetration has fallen over the same time period, though not at the same rate
  • FAST continues to grow
  • vMVPD penetration is flattening out, but adoption has picked up among older (55+) households, suggesting that the technology is mainstreaming
  • More than 40 per cent of pay-TV households use apps to receive all or some of their TV signals, blurring and effectively outmoding the concept of BBO (Broadband Only)

“The latest trend data from DASH underscores the need for an updated view of how TV is defined and consumed,” said Paul Donato, Chief Research Officer at ARF. “As the lines between traditional pay and streaming services continue to blur, we’re moving toward a new paradigm that will more accurately represent how households connect to television.”

A New Framework for TV Connection

In response to these trends, ARF recommends a new classification system for US TV households. This framework divides households into six segments based on what TV signals they receive. Four of these segments constitute the pay-TV universe, including traditional and virtual means of access, which represented 59 per cent of TV-accessible households in spring 2024. The other two segments capture households relying on Over-the-Air (OTA) and digital-only signals. Notably, the pay-TV segments and OTA comprise the Linear TV universe, which represented 74 per cent of US TV households in spring 2024.

Established in 2021 and run annually in collaboration with NORC at the University of Chicago, the DASH study provides a comprehensive view of how Americans connect to and consume TV across devices, platforms and services. DASH is conducted online, in-person, and by phone against a national probability sample of more than 10,000 adults to produce reliable, projectable results for the media industry. DASH is overseen by a technical committee of measurement experts representing the licensees of the study. This committee refines the survey ahead of each wave to keep DASH on top of changes in the ecosystem.

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