Here’s some more fodder for those pushing for a la carte pay-TV packages: almost 9 in 10 American and Canadian adults surveyed in Q4 2013 said they feel they watch the same channels over and over again – and that figure has inched up from the year-earlier period. The data comes from the latest quarterly report [download page] from Digitalsmiths (recently acquired by TiVo), which also finds that about 8 in 10 viewers typically watch 10 or fewer channels. That result has also remained steady from previous surveys released by Digitalsmiths.
The results have implications for the value ascribed to pay-TV services. The latest report finds that only 1 in 5 respondents are very satisfied with the level of value they’re receiving from their service providers, with that result also consistent with prior reports.
During Q4, about 1 in 6 respondents reported decreasing or eliminating pay-TV services, up from 14.2% a year earlier. And 43.2% said that their current bill is more than what it was 12 months ago; increasing fees are the main reason why respondents are dissatisfied with the value of their services.
Even given all of that, respondents in Q4 were again more likely to say that had increased or added services (18.6%) than decreased or removed them (16.6%) during the prior 12 months. Premium channels were the services most likely to be cut by those who had decreased their service levels, while also being the services most likely to be added by those who had increased their levels.
Overall, some 37.8% of respondents said they pay for at least one premium channel, with HBO (21.8%) and Showtime (16%) being the most popular.
In other results from the report, only about 3 in 10 respondents feel overwhelmed by the number of channels available to them, and fewer than 4 in 10 don’t find it easy to find something they want to watch. At the same time, a majority at least sometimes get frustrated when they’re trying to find something to watch, and many also sometimes have trouble finding something that multiple members of the household can enjoy.
About the Data: The results are based on a survey conducted by a 3rd-party survey services during Q4 2013 among more than 3,140 adults in the US and Canada.
