BUT THEY WATCH ON MULTIPLE SCREENS
Millennials (ages 18-34) are changing the way video is consumed, but they still watch a lot of traditional television, according to The U.S. Total Video Report from comScore. And while they watch a lot of television programming, they don’t always watch on a traditional television screen. 83% said they had watched TV programming on a TV screen in the past month, which was the lowest percentage for any age demo. But 44% said they had watched original TV programming on a computer screen, 49% on a tablet and 31% on a smartphone. In each case those were the highest percentages for any age demo.
By viewing platform, Millennials said they spent about 66% of their TV viewing time watching on a traditional TV screen. The computer screen was next at 19%, followed by tablet and smartphone, each at 6%. As the groups got older the percentage for the traditional TV screen was higher: 84% for people 35-54; and 90% for people 55-plus.
About one in six Millennials, however, said they did not watch any original TV series on a traditional TV set within the previous month. The survey found that Millennials are significantly more likely to watch TV content from an Internet-connected device (such as Roku, Apple TV or Google Chromecast) or via a gaming console (such as Xbox or PlayStation). 32% of Millennials reported watching streaming TV content via an Internet-connected TV device and 25% via a gaming console or Blu-Ray player.
The comScore study also found more evidence of cord-cutting and cord-shaving (subscribing to cheaper, limited cable channel packages). Millennials were significantly more likely than their older counterparts to not subscribe to pay TV services. In fact, 18-34-year-olds were 77% more likely than average to be a “cord-never” household, having never subscribed to pay-TV, and 67% more likely than average to be a “cord-cutter” household. Those between the ages of 35-54 are slightly more likely than average to be “cord-cutters” while those age 55-plus are significantly less likely than average not to have pay-TV.
Millennials were 22% less likely to subscribe to a pay TV service, while people 35-54 were right in line with the overall average and those 55-plus over-indexed by four percentage points. It’s not that Millennials aren’t willing to pay for video. They over-indexed for subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and Hulu Plus.
As you would expect, people who subscribe to a paid digital streaming service are more likely than non-subscribers to engage in binge viewing—watching multiple episodes of a TV program at a single sitting. Surprisingly, though, viewing via an Internet-connected TV device ranked third for binge viewing at 12%. Tops was binge viewing on a traditional TV screen via DVR at 43%, followed by video-on-demand on a TV screen at 19%. 11% did binge viewing on live TV, which would include linear TV marathons.