Three-fifths of US TV homes have both pay-TV and SVOD
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Joseph O'Halloran
| 09 November 2020
The subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) juggernaut in the US continues to roll on according to a study from the Leichtman Research Group (LRG) finding that not only do a fifth of US TV households have an SVOD service but not pay-TV, as many as 60% of home have both a pay-TV service and at least one SVOD service.
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The study was are based on a telephone survey of about 2,000 households from throughout the US, and are part of a new LRG study, Pay-TV in the U.S. 2020, LRG’s eighteenth annual study on the topic.

Key findings were that among traditional (cable, satellite or Telco) pay-TV subscribers, 79% have an SVOD service, and 96% of those getting live pay-TV from an Internet-delivered vMVPD also had an SVOD service. Comparatively, 76% of pay-TV non-subscribers had an SVOD service. Additionally it noted that 14% only had a pay-TV service, and 6% had neither pay-TV nor SVOD.

Almost three-quarters of TV households in the US received a live pay-TV service via a cable, DBS, telco or internet-delivered vMVPD compared with 85% in 2015, 88% in 2010 and 82% in 2005. Four-fifths of adults aged over 55 had a pay-TV service; this compared 76% of those aged 35-54 and 63% of ages 18-34.

Just over a quarter (27%) with both pay-TV and SVOD are ages 18-34 compared with 46% with SVOD-only. Nearly two-fifths of those in the US who moved in the past year still do not currently get a pay-TV service. This was a higher level than in any previous year. A third of those not subscribing to a pay-TV service last had a pay-TV service within the past three years, while the same percentage last subscribed over three years ago nor have ever had a live pay-TV service.

“Traditional pay-TV services from cable, satellite, and Telco providers are now in less than two-thirds of US households, while an increasing number of households are opting to get live pay-TV from Internet-delivered vMVPD services,” said LRG president and principal analyst Bruce Leichtman commenting on the research. “Consumers continue to choose the video services that best fit their households’ needs. For 60% of households, this includes both pay-TV and SVOD services.”