Video-on-demand (VOD) users tend to be younger than traditional TV users and more likely to live in families with kids, says Nielsen in its latest cross-platform report [download page], which takes an in-depth look at the demographics of  VOD users. The findings indicate that VOD’s audience is heavily skewed towards the under-50 crowd, with a plurality 31% of users aged 18-34. By comparison, 48% of TV users are aged 50 and up, while just 17% are in the 18-34 bracket. According to recent Census figures, roughly 23.5% of the US population was in the 18-34 bracket last year, suggesting that people of this age under-index as TV users, while over-indexing as VOD users. (To be fair, the Nielsen data is based on audiences aged 2-99, while the Census Bureau population shares are based on the entire population. Nevertheless, the stark differences in audience shares for 18-34-year-olds mean that the trends hold true.)
While TV and VOD users don’t differ much in their ethnic distribution, the Nielsen report does indicate that there’s a substantial difference when it comes to high-income households. Indeed, fully 31% of VOD users earn more than $100,000 per year, compared to 21% of the TV audience.
Additionally, while both groups are equally as likely to own a DVR (50% of each audience), the VOD audience is more likely to have high speed internet (88% vs. 75%) and to own a tablet (34% vs. 26%).
What Are The Top Program Genres?
When it comes to VOD usage, the top genre by a clear margin is the feature film: 52% of the top 100 programs viewed on VOD are feature films, according to the report, with general drama (29%) the next-most popular and the only other to break the double-digit mark in this measure.
By contrast, time-shifted viewing skews heavily towards general drama (48%), with feature films (3%) far less popular.
Sorting those responses by age group, the study reveals that feature films are more popular among the 18-34-year-old VOD audience than the 50+ audience, while the opposite is true for general drama.
