Last week, the video business marveled over an infographic released by Nielsen, which samples living room TV consumption, showing that in July, U.S. viewing of streaming services outpaced watching of cable channels for the first time.
Our reaction was a little skeptical — did this benchmark really just happen now?
The latest data from Leichtman Research Group supports our tire-kicking. In its newest annual “Emerging Video Services” report, LRG said that 59% of the 1,900 adult U.S. consumers it surveyed in June and July report daily video usage on "non-TV devices" — mainly smartphones, tablets and computers.
This audience share has risen steadily over the last decade — the response rate was 55% in 2020, 43% in 2017 and 18% in 2012.
Half of adults (50%) watch video on a mobile phone daily on smartphones — up from 44% in 2020, and 33% in 2017.
Fifty-one percent of adults watch YouTube on a non-TV device daily, followed by news clips at 35%
Our point: With so much “TV” watching occurring on mobile devices, streaming probably left linear broadcast and “cable” in the dust several years ago.
Not surprisingly, younger individuals are most comfortable with mobile video usage. Among those 18-34, 83% said they watch video daily on a non-TV device. The response rate was 64% for ages 35-54 and 35% for ages 55 and above.
“While non-TV devices provide the ability to watch video anywhere, the most common location for watching video on non-TV devices continues to be in the home,“ LRG principal Bruce Leichtman said. “Eighty-two percent of those who watch video on a mobile phone, and 85% of those who watch video on a tablet or eReader, do so at home.”
LRG also found that 83% of households now have a subscription video on-demand (SVOD) service from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and/or Hulu, compared to 78% in 2020, and 64% in 2017.
Overall, 64% of U.S. households now have more than one SVOD service, compared to 55% in 2020 and 33% in 2017. ▪️
