Pay-TV users’ adoption of TV Everywhere (TVE) services is reaching new heights, reports TiVo in its latest quarterly analysis [download page] of pay-TV and video trends. In its survey of almost 3,100 adults in the US and Canada, TiVo found more than one-third (34.7%) of respondents with pay-TV service saying they access their providers’ TVE offering.
That’s the highest adoption rate registered since TiVo began running this particular question four years ago, in Q2 2013. Back then, fewer than one-quarter of pay-TV subscribers were accessing TVE offerings.
Awareness of these offerings has also grown. More than half (50.5%) of pay-TV subscribers affirm that their provider offers a TVE app, up from around one-third in Q2 2013. Fewer over the years also say that they don’t know, indicating greater levels of awareness among respondents.
Research from Adobe Digital Insights (ADI) has similarly found an increasing use of TVE services. However, ADI’s research pegs adoption as less widespread – figuring around 20% of cable TV viewers as of Q4 2016.
TVE Engagement Also Growing
Along with increased awareness and adoption, TVE users are more engaged with these services, per the study.
In fact, more than one-quarter of TVE users report using the services on a daily basis in Q2 2017, more than triple the share who were using TVE with that regularity just three years ago (7.7%).
Moreover, some 7 in 10 TVE viewers now use these apps at least once a week, a jump of two-thirds from Q2 2014 (42%).
Multi-Device Viewing is Appealing
TVE adoption is obviously an important element of pay-TV providers’ attempts to stem the tide of cord-cutting. Separate analysis contained in TiVo’s report suggest that TVE’s portability satisfies some of the appeal otherwise offered by OTT services.
When asked why they use third-party rental and/or subscription services such as Amazon, iTunes and Netflix, convenience (33.9%) and price (31.2%) were the main reasons given by respondents.
But not too far back, the ability to watch TV and movies on one’s computer (24.7%) appears also relatively important, as does the ability to watch on a smartphone (19.5%) and tablet (17%).
Surprisingly, only around 1 in 6 respondents said they use OTT services because they enjoy the original content offered by such services. That’s despite several indications that original content is becoming much more important for OTT services, and that subscription video-on-demand services’ original programming is considered the same as TV. In fact, 32% of Netflix viewers and 31% of Amazon Video customers say that they watch original content on those platforms most often, according to research from Ampere Analysis.
Nonetheless, while TVE services can’t necessarily compete on some of OTT services’ greatest attractions – cost, lack of ads, and ability to watch entire seasons – it’s clear that offering viewers the ability to watch on different devices is proving to be an appealing option.
