In Broadcast - March 2015 - 78

78

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 5 - Issue 3 | March 2015

InUSA

Video Viewing Numbers
Deserve More Attention
Viewing patterns revealed in a recent study of
American household television consumption show
a marked shift towards IP-enabled
devices, writes Contributing Editor
Michael Grotticelli...

F

or all those traditionalists who
say that over the air broadcasting
will "NEVER!" go away, like the people
who can't seem to admit that global
warming is real, the evidence of erosion
is all around us.
American consumers are viewing less
and less content from OTA (Over-TheAir) sources because they don't want
to stay glued to their living room to see
a favourite show. They want freedom
and they want control. It's up to
broadcasters and content distributors
to give it to them, on multiple devices -
especially when they are at home.
Some of the consumer usage data
being collected by trade organisations,
such as the Consumer Electronics
Association (CEA), would appear
obvious to anyone reading this
magazine. The CEA's The Market for
US Household Television Services
study reveals that about half of
all respondents said they watched
video on either a laptop, tablet or
smartphone; no surprise there. What
is at least eye opening, however, is
that all categories of display devices
(including desktop PCs) saw increased
video usage, taking away precious
eyeballs from that big screen TV.
The trend is clear - more households
watch video programming on the living
room TV and are now also turning to
alternative video devices at home.
Internet Rise
In fact, CEA data collected since
2005 shows a steady decline in the
percentage of US TV households
relying only on antennas for
programming. For the ﬁrst time ever,
the percentage of US households with

CEA study The Market for US Household
Television Services looked at viewing
behaviour

a television that relies exclusively on
an antenna for television programming
reception (about 6% of the 116.3
million TV households in America,
according to Nielsen) is about to be
eclipsed for the ﬁrst time ever by the
percentage of households relying only
on the Internet for TV programming
(now at about 5%).
"We are at a pivotal point in
consumer behaviour, as fewer and
fewer American homes are now using
only antennas to watch their favourite
television programmes, and more and
more households turn to the Internet
as a source of TV content," said Gary
Shapiro, President and CEO, of the
CEA, in a statement regarding the
study. "In 1986, more than half of
American homes with a TV relied solely
on free, over-the-air broadcasting.
But our study reveals that just 6%
of US TV households now watch TV
programming exclusively through an
over-the-air signal. This continues a
nine-year, downward trend that shows
antenna-only viewership remains
at all-time lows and an upward
trend of consumers watching video
programming when and where they
choose."
However, despite this continued
growth in tablet and smartphone
penetration rates, televisions are
not dead yet. In fact, nine million
households currently rely exclusively
on OTA reception and their living room
TV is still the most widely used viewing
device in the household, according
to the CEA's study. Data shows that
TVs have the highest household
penetration of any viewing devices
(97%) and strongest video content
viewership (93%), despite the growth
of Internet-enabled televisions.
According to the study, conducted
by the CEA's Market Research group,
viewership of video programming on
connected devices continues to grow.
Nearly half of TV user households

Viewers are no longer glued to
the main TV screen

watched video on either a portable
computer or smartphone in the
last year, and more than a third
watched on either a tablet or desktop
computer. In addition, the percentage
of US TV households consuming at
least some TV programming via the
Internet has nearly doubled (since
2013). Almost half of US TV households
(45%) received at least some television
programming from the Internet in the
last year, the study found.
That's a 17-point increase from
the previous year (28%) - small but
signiﬁcant.
IP Migration
The numbers certainly tell a story
that shouldn't be ignored. If so many
people are migrating to IP-enabled
devices to watch TV, the CEA questions
why broadcasters need so much
wireless spectrum - some 6 MHz per
station, times about 1,775 full power
TV stations.
"In the next year, we expect the
number of US households relying
exclusively on the Internet for TV

Marked rise in television
consumption on
IP-connected devices

programming to equal or surpass
the total of those relying only
on antennas," said Shapiro. "As
consumers continue to turn to
other devices and services for TV
programming - devices that need
wireless spectrum to deliver the
content we want anytime, anywhere -
it's clear that the free, public spectrum
given to broadcasters could be put to
much better use."
That's why technical completion
and real-world deployment of
the
next-generation
ATSC
3.0
broadcast standard - which includes
accommodations for both Ultra High
Deﬁnition TV as well as reduces bit
rate streams delivered to mobile
devices - is so critical for US
broadcasters. That's predicted to take
two to three years. If the industry
doesn't get it right, networks might
lose spectrum because groups like
the CEA will lobby against them,
calling them irrelevant and not able to
compete.
The CEA's numbers can be fudged,
but they are not deceitful.
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