A survey from M-GO of streaming media consumers finds that new TV shows (that are still on the air) are their most popular type of programming, cited by 68% of respondents, with new movies (46%) and older movies (44%) in tow. That suggests that streamers are driven by a desire to watch shows on their own schedule, perhaps more so than by a particular affinity for content that can only be found online. Indeed, recent research from the IAB indicates that among online video viewers, convenience counts more as a reason to watch than content availability.
New streamers, though, exhibit a slightly different pattern. The choice of content among “first-timers” is split evenly between TV shows (44%) and movies (44%), according to the M-GO survey, with men more likely to have streamed a movie (49% vs. 40%) and women more likely to have streamed a TV show (52% vs. 37%) their first time around.
Overall, women appear to be newer to streaming than men. 44% of the male respondents said they had been streaming for at least 3 years, compared to 26% of the female respondents. Women were more likely to have been streaming for less than a year (31% vs. 20%).
Other Findings:
- Men are more likely to stream using a desktop computer, while women are 3 times more likely to use a tablet.
- 84% of respondents stream at least once a week, with men more likely than women to stream every day (41% vs. 26%).
- Only one-third are very satisfied with the service they use most frequently.
- 8 in 10 use 2 or more services. According to a new Ask Your Target Market (AYTM) survey, Hulu is the most popular free streaming service, while Netflix is most popular when it comes to paid services.
- When deciding on a service, quality is most important to women (33%), followed by cost (30%) and high definition (6%), per the M-GO data. Among men, cost (24%) edges quality (23%) as the key consideration, with HD (11%) also playing a role.
About the Data: The survey was conducted for M-GO by Lab42 from April 6-11, 2013, among 1,000 adults in the US aged 25-49 who stream content online.