US pay-TV homes continue decline but SVOD market flat in Q3 2022
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Joseph O'Halloran
| 19 December 2022
2022 has been yet another strong year for streaming but the latest Device and Account Sharing (DASH) study by The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) has found US household penetration levels of the major subscription streaming services held mostly flat year-on-year.
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The ARF DASH report is a projectable enumeration study of consumer behavior in TV and digital media. DASH records in granular detail how US households connect to and consume TV, use digital devices, and interact with and share streaming media and ecommerce accounts.

The survey found that the flat growth in subs was bucked only by the Paramount+ service which jumped up to a 17% share from 11% driven by Yellowstone. Overall, Disney inched up to 41% up from 39%; HBO Max, 29% up from 27%. Market leader leaders Netflix dipped three percentage points to 66%; Amazon Prime 56%, down from 58%. Netflix and Disney remain the most shared services among both friends (12% and 13% respectively) and relatives (36% and 33% respectively).

More than 5% of US households do not have a TV set, but the survey stressed that was not because most of them are off the grid. Indeed, 80% of these households have broadband, and more than 50% watch on their devices. This was driven by young adults (18-34) in one person households, who are twice as likely as older viewers not to own a television. Reception mode follows suit: 50% of TV set-less households are digital only (streaming), as opposed to just 14% of households with TV sets.

The DASH data also showed that broadband only (BBO) grew from 25% in Summer 2021 to 30% in Spring 2022 among TV accessible households, including those without a TV set. The corresponding BBO penetration figures in TV (set) households were 22% and 26%. Over the same period, pay-TV households declined from 61% to 57%.

The DASH data showed that including virtual MVPDs would raise the pay universe to 67% and lower BBO to 20% among all TV accessible households. Some in the industry represent this 20% to be the entire BBO universe, while others include households with vMVPDs in BBO.

Another key trend revealed was that consumers are not very loyal to TV set brands, creating another measurement challenge for the industry. Many of the new currencies use Vizio data but projecting household viewing based on usage of Vizio smart TVs will not produce a complete picture as 86% of households with one Vizio TV have other TVs from other brands. Even in households with two Vizio TVs, other brands of TVs are present in 70% of cases.