US SVOD users are not all alike

TDG: Vive la Différence, Capitaine Évidence! All SVOD Users Are Not Alike!

PLANO, TX — Approximately two-thirds of US adult broadband users now enjoy online subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services like Netflix on their home television. That being said, SVOD users are far from homogenous, especially when it comes to TV viewing behavior and the role that subscription streaming plays.

Pay-TV Substituters—a small but growing segment—spend 68% of their TV time watching SVOD, about 25 hours per week. Substituters not only spend a far greater proportion of their TV time watching SVOD, but spend far more time than other segments watching TV in general (about 34 hours/week).

By contrast, those using SVOD to augment their TV sources, Pay-TV Supplementers spend only 20% of their TV time watching SVOD, 3.5 hours per week. Notably these viewers spend on just over 14 hours each week watching TV, far below Substituters and least among the four segments.

Quantum Viewers and Luddites spend about the same amount of time each week watching TV SVOD (~5 hour/week). However, SVOD’s contribution to their total TV time varies significantly. For example, Luddites spend 35% of their weekly TV time watching SVOD, while Quantum Viewers spend 26% of their weekly TV time watching subscription on-demand streaming services.

“The industry continues to speak of SVOD viewers as if they are a homogenous group with common behavior and preferences. Nothing could be further from the truth,” says Michael Greeson, TDG president and principal analyst.

“TV streamers are as varied as TV viewers in general, and understanding these differences is critical to operators and networks hoping to carve out a larger share of ‘TV time.’ Simply rolling a data-driven notion of a ‘personalized TV service’ is insufficient. True differentiation requires designing and packaging content to increasingly specific preferences not tracked by industry metrics.”

TDG’s new report, A Formal Segmentation of US SVOD Users, presents a research-based analysis of a wide range of variables, including technographic, demographic, psychographic, and video-graphic elements. It is the most detailed examination of US SVOD users available publicly.