OTT now at 82% consumer saturation in the U.S.

Thursday, October 14th, 2021 
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Resonate State of Streaming Report Shows that OTT has Achieved 82% Consumer Saturation, With Cable TV Falling to 55%

  • Netflix Is Nation’s Leading On-Demand Provider, with Amazon Prime Gaining

RESTON, Va. — Resonate, the leading provider of A.I.-driven consumer data and analytics, today issued new research that provides a nuanced, critical look into the new streaming media behaviors of today’s American TV consumer.

TV viewing has changed dramatically over the past few years with more and more consumers adopting non-traditional means of watching television. Both the impact of the pandemic and the concurrent proliferation of streaming platforms and providers are dynamic factors in consumer adoption that Resonate captures in its proprietary research. According to data from Resonate’s Ignite platform, 82% of U.S. consumers now watch some form of OTT content, with only 55% still watching cable TV. This detailed data set is available live in the Resonate Ignite platform and available to append to any first-party data set.

Within the streaming world, there are two primary types of consumption behavior: Live Streaming and On-Demand Streaming. According to Resonate’s report, these distinctions are absolutely vital to understand if marketers want to connect meaningfully with the audiences of greatest value to their brands. For example, the Live TV Streaming Only audience skews older, with the largest age group being 45-54 years old, while the Streaming On-Demand Only audience is on the younger side, with the largest group being 25-34 years old. This data suggests live TV resonates well against older demographics that are used to viewing live TV through traditional broadcast.

Interestingly, Streaming Live TV viewers are mainly using ad-support or free services (AVODs) like Pluto TV, Roku Channel, and Tubi TV. They under-index against all paid live TV services.

Resonate also uncovered interesting customer characteristics within each segment as well:

About Streaming Live TV Audiences:

  • Streaming Live TV Only viewers skew male and are driven by recognition from their peers.​
  • They prefer to use ad-supported or free versions of live TV streaming services.​
  • The majority uses Pluto TV to stream live TV programming.​
  • They enjoy programming produced by CBS and Fox, especially American Dad and Tucker Carlson Tonight.

About On-Demand Only Audiences:

  • Streaming On-Demand Only viewers skew female and are driven by the desire to live a life full of excitement.​
  • The majority of the audience watches Netflix and Amazon Prime Video regularly.
  • Out of the top 4 on-demand streaming services, their favorites shows are on Netflix.
  • This audience tends to binge-watch their favorite TV shows using their smart TVs.

Going further, to emphasize the importance of nuance in understanding streaming audiences, Resonate also examined the different characteristics among the customers of streaming services. According to the research, Peacock and Paramount+ subscribers vary significantly in terms of gender and tastes in TV shows. Peacock subscribers skew male, while Paramount+ subscribers skew female. Likewise, Peacock subscribers prefer comedy shows, while the Paramount+ subscribers have more eclectic tastes, ranging from comedy to crime genres.

Overall, both Peacock and Paramount+ subscribers are avid sports fans. However, the Peacock subscribers are supporters of their local professional sports teams, while the Paramount+ subscribers enjoy sports programming overall without any local professional team affiliations.

Links: Resonate