Video remains highly social medium
Details
Joseph O'Halloran
| 17 January 2019

Even though the prevailing direction of TV show, film and general video consumption is increasingly mobile, research from MRI shows that video remains a highly social medium with even almost two-thirds of young adults saying they are ‘co-viewing’ more often now.

The Cord Evolution research show that Americans watch TV or video in groups almost half (48%) of their total viewing time. In addition, 49% of all adults – and 60% in the 18-to-34 age group – report that they are co-viewing more often now than they did three years ago.

Looking at who is watching with whom, over half (58%) of co-viewing time is spent watching with a “significant other,” while children account for 19%; adult family members, 16%; and friends, 9%. Preferred genres for watching with others change depending on who else is in the room; while films come in first or second in all four co-viewing situations, and comedy TV shows consistently place in the top three, sports score highest when friends are the co-viewers.

MRI also found that more than half (55%) of solo viewers are men. Parents, on the other hand, are more likely to be co-viewers; three-quarters (77%) of parental co-viewers have children under the age of 11 in the home, while one-quarter (23%) have children aged 12–17.

The new data also revealed that show that co-viewing is not a platform-driven behaviour. When asked which types of TV services they use most often when co-viewing, Americans were equally likely to say they co-view via traditional TV services (48% — cable, satellite, fibre optic service) and streaming services (52% — Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.). Not surprisingly, younger adults (ages 18-34) are more likely than average to choose streaming as their medium of co-viewing (72%).

“The social nature of TV viewing continues to drive people to this enjoyable shared experience,” commented MRI TVideo VP media sales Amy Hunt. “A lot has been said recently about the introduction of dynamically inserted ads for shows; but this seems to be predicated on the idea of only one target watching. The increase of co-viewing suggests that more ad options will need to be available, to appeal to the widest possible audience range.”