An Evercore ISI Group study of 866 millennial men and women showed that while the younger generation watches most of its video online, they are more than willing to pay for it and are in no rush to cancel their cable/satellite/telco subscriptions.
According to the survey, conducted by Evercore’s researchers Oscar Sloterbeck, Charles Saltzman and James Walsh, more than half of millennials in four age groups – 13-17; 18-23; 24-29; and 30-35 – said they were unlikely or somewhat unlikely to replace traditional pay TV for online video. About 10% of 24-to-29 year olds said they were very likely to cut the cord, with less than 10% of the other age groups selecting that option. Nearly 20% of those aged 24-29 and 30-35 said they have already cut the cord while about 5% of 13-to-17 year olds and 10% of those aged 18-23 dropped their pay TV package.
The survey showed that viewing habits also change as consumers age – about 42% of 13-to-17 year-olds watch video on their PCs and Laptops, while 65% of 18-to-23 year-olds view video on those devices. Older millennials watch mostly via their cable/satellite/telco subscriptions, with 38% of millennials aged 24-29 and 52% of millennials aged 30-35 taking that option. As far as mobile viewing, 25% of 13-to-17 year-olds and 10% of 30-to-35 year olds watch video on mobile devices.
"Online video seems to be the most popular way to watch video among young millennials,” said Evercore ISI media analyst Vijay Jayant in an email. “However, as of now online video seems to be mostly complimentary to cable/satellite with only a small percentage of respondents saying they are likely to disconnect their traditional cable/satellite connection in favor of online video.”
One thing all the age groups could agree on was what online content site they watched the most – Netflix. Netflix was the online video site that 43% of 13-to-17 year-olds watched most and the numbers didn’t fall off much among the older set: 45% of 18-to-23 year-olds; 45% of 24-to-29 year olds and 35% of 30-to-35 year-olds. In second place was YouTube, with just under 30% of 13-to-17 year-olds watching the Google-owned site the most; just under 40% for 18-to-23 year-olds and 24-to-29 year olds; and about 25% for 30-to-35 year-olds.
That makeup is probably while the majority of males and females responded that they were willing to pay for content – females surveyed said 33% of the online video sites they watch are free while 67% ae pay sites. Males were a little bit cheaper – they said 45% of video sites they view are free and 55% charge a fee.
