TV viewers are facing media fatigue, TiVo report finds
While there are so many TV providers and content types available at viewers’ fingertips, a report from TiVo has found that interest in a la carte channel packaging has dipped, suggesting consumers are overwhelmed by all the options.
There might be too many TV options for consumers to choose from
According to the report, interest in a la carte packages has dropped by 12.8% since last year. Just over 29% of respondents are not interested in the option at all.
Chris Ambrozic, TiVo’s vice-president of product, suggested two ways for industry players to mitigate media fatigue.
“Aggregating personalized recommendations across multiple sources is one clear way the industry can help the viewers cut through the clutter which can lead to fatigue. Engaging with voice is another way in which we see viewers re-energize their perception of pay-TV solutions,” Ambrozic told The Drum.
In 2018, 29.5% of respondents had access to voice search within their pay-TV devices, with 17.7% saying they actually used it, which represent a 5% and 4% year-over-year increase, respectively.
As for pay-TV, 52.7% of respondents said Netflix is an essential service and 39.5% said cable is essential.
A large portion of respondents are “cord-only” users, with 30.7% saying they don’t use a major monthly OTT or SVOD service. The average age of those respondents was 52.8, while the average age for “cord-never” respondents was 37.3.
Live TV leads the way, with 63.6% of respondents saying they watch at least one hour of live programming accessed from the channel guide. Over 45% of those surveyed said they watch at least one hour of live sports.
Ambrozic said the future of cable and satellite may rest on consumer viewing habits of live TV.
“Currently, live content is still being watched over the air, but the streaming platforms are making deals with sports and event providers to drive new viewers to their own platforms. However, the premium live content will stay with the cable/sat providers until the majority of the viewership really does move away from pay-TV.
“This is really a ‘time will tell’ scenario. The younger demographics – the people relying more heavily on streaming – might end up adopting pay-TV as they grow older, and all the live content that comes with it, especially if the pay-TV providers continue to invest in personalization technology. If they stick solely with streaming, then the live TV content will only have to go with them,” said Ambrozic.
Television screens are still the main way of consuming content for 72.7% of respondents. Just under a quarter (22%) of people surveyed access pay-TV via a streaming device, with the top five being a smart TV, gaming console, Roku, Amazon Fire Stick and Apple TV.
The report surveyed 4,458 adults in the US and Canada.