Asian-Americans differ from the US population overall in their screen behaviors, details Nielsen in a recent report [download page]. With data showing that Asian-American households watch far less live TV and DVR playback than the general population, it seems that this demographic group leans more heavily than others on digital vehicles such as internet-connected devices and subscription video-on-demand services.
In fact, Asian-American households are above-average in broadband-only TV access, being 86% more likely than the household average to access TV in this manner. While they over-index the average by the largest amount in the Northeast, the 7% of Asian households in the West accessing TV via broadband only is the highest percentage of any region.
Meanwhile, Asian-American households under-index the overall household average in cable or satellite TV access. This is true across regions, and aligns with their generally lower rates of live TV viewing. Similarly, only 43% of households have a DVR, which is 19% lower than the US household average.
When it comes to digital devices and content access, though, the story is quite different. Some 68% of Asian-American households access subscription video-on-demand services, a rate that’s 21% higher than the average. Similarly, they over-index in: high-speed internet connections (93% owning; index of 116); computer ownership (92%; 112); smartphone ownership (95%; 109); and tablet ownership (76%; 118).
Not surprisingly, then, Asian-Americans hold more positive attitudes to the internet than the population as a whole. Some 87% (versus 81% of the total population) feel that the internet is a great way to gather information on products and services they’re considering purchasing, and 83% (versus 73% of the total population agree that the internet is a great way to actually buy products.
Moreover, Asian-Americans are 20% more likely to say that going online is one of their favorite things to do with their free time (60% vs. 50%) and 26% more likely to say that they would feel disconnected without the internet (59% vs. 47%).
Finally, as one might expect, Asian-Americans are more likely than Americans overall to look to the internet as a main source of entertainment, with 58% saying it is a main source for them.
About the Data: The data on device and service ownership is based on Nielsen NPOWER, with penetration based on average scaled installed counts for January 15, 2016 of Asian-Americans, ages 2-99 households versus total households.
The internet attitudes data is based on Scarborough USA+ 2015 Release 2 Total (August 2014-October 2015), GfK/MRI Attitudinal Insights.
