The percentage of US households with a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service now stands at 78%, up from 74% last year and 69% in 2018. In its latest annual survey on the topic, Leichtman Research Group (LRG) also found that more than half of these households have more than one SVOD service.
Of the close to 2,000 households surveyed for the report, some 55% say they subscribe to more than one SVOD service such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu or Disney+. This is up from last year, when 51% of US households had more than one SVOD service.
The number of households that share their subscriptions outside of their immediate household is on the rise, as well. Three in 10 Netflix subscribers admit that their password is shared with others, while 23% of Hulu subscribers and 20% of Amazon Prime subscribers share their passwords.
These three services remain the most watched. Research from Comscore shows that Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu (along with YouTube and newcomer, Disney+) accounted for more than 82% of the hours spent streaming OTT content. The gap is also narrowing between those who would choose Netflix over pay-TV if they were forced to give up all but one TV provider.
Daily Consumption on the Rise
Some two-fifths of adults are now streaming an SVOD service on a daily basis. This is up from one-third (33%) in 2019 and 30% in 2018 – and is more than twice the percentage who were streaming via SVOD daily back in 2015 (16%).
Younger audiences remain more apt to stream daily on an SVOD service than older audiences. Making up close to two-thirds (63%) of daily SVOD users, 55% of adults ages 18-44 stream through this type of service daily, double the percentage (27%) of adults ages 45 and older who do so.
Daily Mobile SVOD Viewing Grows
Mobiles continue to gain in popularity as a device used to watch video. Nielsen found that some 7 in 10 adults are now using video-focused apps or websites on their smartphone on a weekly basis. This is as the percentage of adults who use non-TV devices to watch grows — up to 55% this year compared to 51% in 2019, per LRG. Indeed, some 44% of adults report that they use their mobile to watch video daily (up from 35% in 2018 and 20% in 2015).
About the Data: “Emerging Video Services 2020 is based on a survey of about 1,990 adults age 18+ from throughout the U.S. The survey, conducted in June-July 2020, included a sample of about 1,175 online and about 815 via telephone (including landline and cell phone calls). The overall sample has a statistical margin of error of +/- 2.2%.”
