51% of 16-34 year olds surveyed watched streamed content in 2015 compared to 2014.
The way people are viewing content is changing and there are now more channels and platforms than ever before. At BLE, Sam Tuch from GfK presented the latest stats from its consumer data on subscription video on demand (SVoD).
Subscription streaming services are becoming ever more popular, with data from GfK showing a 9% growth in the number of adults viewing a streamed service from 2014 to 2015 (on Netflix, Amazon Prime or NOW TV). However, the stats are more telling in the 16-34 year age group where 51% of those in the GfK sample watch streamed content in 2015 compared to 29% in 2014.
“There are now more ways than ever to consume content,” said Sam Tuch, associate director of GfK. “Our consumer data shows that among those that have access, streamed content accounts for nearly 20% of daily viewing minutes. This has impacted on the time spent watching live TV, but live TV does still account for 27% of daily viewing time.”
In terms of what people are watching, the GfK sample shows that 80% of streamed content is made up of TV shows or series.
“People are not really streaming movies or documentaries,” added Sam. “The content they are streaming is dominated by dramas. Breaking Bad was big a couple of years ago, but now it is Orange is the New Black, House of Cards and Marvel’s Daredevil. Which interestingly are all Netflix original titles.”
In fact original programming accounts for nearly 25% of all viewing on Netflix and 13% on Amazon Prime and is something Sam believes will increase over the next few years.
“We know from our research that for both Netflix and Amazon Prime a high proportion of consumers sign up especially to watch original series that they can’t see anywhere else. We’ve already seen high quality productions, such as House of Cards and Orange is the New Black on Netflix and we’ll see a lot more in years to come.”
Sam continued: “Subscription services are definitely changing where and how people consume content. The service providers themselves are changing the face of content supply, with new productions, but also new technology. A big game changer will be when Netflix introduce downloadable content so consumers will be able to watch wherever and whenever they want without the need to be connected.”
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