Streaming video services surpassing cable TV subscriptions among millennials
Cable subscription services are falling behind the number of US internet users, with 57% of millennials using a cable service in their home.
According to a May 2017 from Fluent LLC reported in eMarketer, 67% of US internet users watch or have access to a streaming service, while just 61% have cable in their homes.
The study found that millennials tend to use streaming services at a higher rate than their older counterparts with (77%) of millennials saying they have access to a streaming service and almost two-thirds (65%) of nonmillennials.
Netflix is preferred among both millennials and those ages 35 and older while six in ten millennials (61%) surveyed have access to the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service, compared with 45% of nonmillennials. Amazon Prime Video was the one streaming service subscribed to by both age groups at the same rate—16% of respondents. Most of the other streaming platforms examined in the survey had a higher penetration rate among younger internet users.
Low cost was the top factor that persuaded respondents to pay for streaming content. More than one-third (34%) of respondents chose that as a reason for signing up for a streaming video service.
Nearly three in ten millennials (29%) said they signed on to a service because it gave them the convenience of watching content on any device, while about two in ten (21%) non-millennials said the same.
With its growing appeal, original content had a strong pull for one-fifth (18%) of all respondents while syndicated content was much less of a draw, named by just 7% of internet users as a reason for joining a streaming platform.