The average U.S. consumer now has access to six different TV services, and is increasingly inclined to add more to ensure they can see the latest exclusive programming options.
That’s according to Hub Entertainment Research’s annual Best Bundle study, which found consumers average 5.7 different services including OTT services, traditional pay-TV providers and over-the-air (OTA) broadcasts received via antennas.
The average number of TV service options climbed by one from a year ago, and has doubled since 2019.
The study also found four-fifths of TV consumers now use a streaming TV service. The number of viewers with traditional pay-TV services has declined by 7 percentage points from a year ago, while the number of viewers using any streaming service grew only 2 points over the same period.
The report found the increase in the average number of steaming services resulted from a combination of factors including greater discovery and adoption of free, ad-supported services.
Almost three-fifths of all TV consumers take two or more of the most popular subscription video on demand (SVoD) services, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+ and HBO Max. The number of those with two or more of those services grew 8 percentage points, Hub found.
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Similarly popular were free ad-supported steaming services including The Roku Channel, Pluto TV and the free version of Peacock, which grew viewers 8 percentage points to 48% compared to a year ago.
Hub also found just over half of TV consumers with nearly 6 services feel their selection of service options meet their needs “very well” while 42% found their needs are met “somewhat well” and 6% said “not well at all.”
Looking ahead, Hub sees no decline in the trend as a fifth of respondents planning to add new services will do so in the next six months. A majority of those plan to add services without cutting any of there current choices.
Some 78% of consumers with four or more services who expect to add new services, don’t plan to replace any of their current ones.
“The rapid expansion of streaming TV services is undoubtedly a critically important development for the industry. But more fundamentally, these services signal a continuing shift from an aggregated approach to TV content distribution, to a primarily disaggregated approach,” the Hub report states. “Indeed, as fewer and fewer consumers opt to allow traditional MVPDs decide what bundle of TV networks will best meet their needs, consumers themselves are now the ones making most of those decisions for themselves.”
The study surveyed 1,600 U.S. consumers age 16-74 who watch a minimum of 1 hour of TV per week.
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By Greg Tarr
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