Fewer and fewer Americans are hostage to the schedule choices of television companies. Today, consumers are more and more choosing the time and the place, as well as the technology.
New statistics from Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) indicate that 76 percent of U.S. households own a DVR, subscribe to Netflix, or use on-Demand (VOD) from a cable or Telco provider. About 26 percent of households take advantage of two of these services, with 11 percent opting for all three.
A digital video recorder is basically a VCR that uses a hard drive instead of video tapes. It’s used to record, save, and play back television programs and can also pause live TV by recording the current show in real time.
“The survey also found that 62 percent of U.S. households that subscribe to a pay-TV service have a DVR (up from 41 percent five years ago), while 1 percent of pay-TV non-subscribers have a DVR,” explained LRG. “In addition, 55 percent of households with a DVR now have DVR service on more than one TV set, up from 28 percent five years ago.”
LRG’s study, “On-Demand TV 2014: A Nationwide Study on VOD and DVRs,” shows just how prevalent these technologies now are.
“This is LRG’s thirteenth annual study on on-Demand TV. While VOD and DVRs were relatively nascent when this series of studies began, they are now core components of pay-TV packages” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. “Along with Netflix and other over-the-top offerings, these on-Demand TV services have permanently changed the options of how people may choose to watch TV.”
In other highlights, LRG noted that 63 percent of digital cable subscribers and 58 percent of Telco video subscribers have used on-Demand in the past month, that 36 percent of pay-TV subscribers subscribe to Netflix, and that 36 percent of Netflix subscribers stream video daily, and 72 percent do so weekly (up from 10 percent daily and 43 percent weekly in 2010).
