U.S. consumers are tapping their video from an average of 5.7 sources, up from 4.8 in 2020, according to the latest survey from research company Hub.
The current average is almost twice as high as the 2019 figure, which was 3.7
These sources include everything from pay TV services to over-the-air antennas to subscription video on-demand streaming platforms. The proliferation of the latter, however, seems to be driving the growth.
Hub also said that the percentage of households using two or more of the top subscription streaming services is now at 59%, up from 51% in 2020. Hub defines "top SVOD" as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney Plus or or HBO Max.
And 40% of homes subscribe to three or more top-five SVOD services vs. 28% last year.
And it's not just SVOD use that's increasing--48% of U.S. households report regularly using an AVOD platform like Roku Channel or IMDb TV vs. 40% in 2020.
The addition of newer services like HBO Max, Peacock, Discovery Plus and Paramount Plus doesn't appear to be a zero-sum game, with 72% of consumers who say they plan to add subscription streaming services in the next six months indicating no concurrent plans to ditch an incumbent service.
Not surprisingly, the pay TV bundle appears to be the bill targeted for extinction in many homes. Hub found that surveyed homes subscribing to linear pay TV dropped seven percentage points to 60% in the last year, while streaming homes ticked up two points to 79%.
Overall, 94% of U.S. consumers surveyed by Hub indicated that were at least "somewhat" satisfied with their current combination of services.
Notably, to a point, the more video sources consumers tapped, the more satisfaction they reported.
