YuMe And Instant.ly Unveil Joint Study On TV Viewing Habits And Preferences

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 26, 2014

Instant.ly is provided by uSamp, the technology leader in market research providing automation, mobile and global sample and insight solutions for marketers.

"The findings of this study confirm that the big networks are being overtaken by paid content providers like HBO and Netflix, demonstrating that Millennial and GenX TV viewers are willing to pay for quality content—either through advertising or subscription- in order to watch it when it breaks,'" said Justin Wheeler, vice president, product innovation Instant.ly at uSamp. "This type of creative innovation in programming truly reflects what critics are referring to as the 'Second Golden Age of Television,' and our study with YuMe sets out to take a pulse on the most up-to-the-minute consumer attitudes toward television programming."  

The study explores TV consumption trends such as engaging with short-form content (short clips or excerpts from full TV episodes available through streaming); watching live TV versus on-demand, either pre-recorded or streaming; as well as "binge-watching" (continuously watching multiple episodes/installments of a single show in the same day). Highlights from the survey of over 1,000 consumers follow:

• The three top reasons consumers agree we're in Second Golden Age of TV are due to:
  • High quality TV;
  • Variety of TV content and;
  • Ability to binge-watch;
• 24 percent consider watching three shows in a row "binge-watching"; another 24 percent say it's four shows, and 21 percent think it needs to be five to qualify as binge-watching.
• Only 13 percent said they have never binge-watched TV. 36 percent of those who have never binge-watched, the highest percent, are 65 years old and older;
• 68 percent of those who watch short content do so "to catch up on TV and watch highlights;" 51 percent "to watch content related to a TV show (behind the scenes, actor interviews, etc.)" and 24 percent to "see user-posted content about favorite shows."

When it comes to multi-tasking across devices while watching TV:

• 36 percent said they interact with a 'second screen' "somewhat often" while watching TV; 27 percent said they don't do so very often, while 20 percent say "never" to such a distraction.
• Of those who do multi-task while watching TV, 54 percent say it's on a laptop, and 41 percent each said a smartphone or tablet.

The study also explores whether consumers are currently paying for cable or satellite TV service as well as what would incentivize them to cancel those subscription services if they were offered online.

• 88 percent are paying for a cable or satellite TV service.
• 32 percent would consider canceling their service if online/streaming providers offered better sports coverage. 22 percent said better live coverage of a world event like the Olympics or World Cup might sway them; 11 percent chose better election coverage; but 55 percent said none of these incentives would make them cancel cable.

The full survey can be viewed here. An infographic of the survey can be found here.