Connected TV Device Use Levels Off After Viewing Surge During COVID-19: LRG
Use of connected TV devices leveled off over the past year after being “pulled forward” in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, said a Q2 Leichtman Research Group report. Still, 39% of adults watch video on a TV via a connected device daily, 60% weekly, and 70% at least monthly, it said. Despite consumers having more ways to watch video, TVs are “overwhelmingly” their preferred delivery method, said Leichtman.
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Given a choice of screens, 78% of survey respondents said they prefer to watch video on a TV, 11% on a laptop or desktop computer, 8% on a smartphone and 3% on a tablet. Percentages narrow according to age group: 83% of ages 35+ prefer to watch on a TV; 73% of ages 25-34 and 55% of ages 18-24, indicating consumers continue to opt for the TV as “the best available screen” in the home,” said Leichtman.
About 82% of U.S. TV households have one internet-connected TV device, with an average 4.1 per TV household, said the report. That’s up from 74% in 2019 and 30% in 2011. Nearly nine in 10 households that bought a TV in the past year have at least one smart TV, said the report. Connected TVs helped maintain the primacy of TV by increasingly integrating streaming and traditional linear content into the viewing experience, said the researcher.
Some 39% of adults in U.S. TV households watch over-the-top video daily via a connected TV device, nearly flat with 2020’s 40%, and up from 31% in 2019, 19% in 2016, and 3% in 2011. Younger people are most likely to use connected TV devices. Among ages 18-34, 54% watch video on a TV via a connected device daily -- compared with 43% of ages 35-54 and 22% of ages 55-plus.
The average number of TV sets in U.S. households is 2.6 in 2021; 45% use three or more, Leichtman said, saying households are updating TVs more often as prices continue to drop. Average spending on a new TV this year was $530, Leichtman said. For the seventh consecutive year, at least 24% of adults reported getting a new TV in the past 12 months, lured by better features, larger screen sizes and lower prices. About 43% of all TVs in U.S. households are smart TVs, up from 32% in 2019, 19% in 2016, and 7% in 2014, it said.
Major pay-TV providers lost about 1.9 million subscribers in Q1, while just over a million broadband subscriptions were added. About 250 million more TV households have connected TV devices than have pay-TV set-top boxes, said Leichtman. In 2016, that number was 35 million, it said.