The penetration of streaming in US households has expanded to 80% in the first quarter of 2022 from 79% in the fourth quarter of last year, according to a new report from MoffettNathanson. A year ago, in the first quarter of 2021, streaming penetration was 74%.
As stated by MoffettNathanson, the growth in penetration came because of increases in subscriptions to newer, smaller services like Peacock and Paramount+, while top streamers like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ or Amazon Prime Video were relatively flat as a group. Moreover, the researcher noted that the increase came from consumers who do not have a pay TV subscription, as penetration in homes that do have a pay TV subscription was also flat.
In detail, Paramount+ and Peacock gained 350 and 235 basis points in penetration, respectively. More established services appeared to step down the increase in new episodes of original programming. By contrast, newer services are ramping up with new series on Paramount+ and the Olympics and Super Bowl on Peacock. Discovery+, another of the newer streaming services, did not have an exceptional growth, but its subscribers’ daily usage was among the highest in the industry, trailing only Netflix and Hulu.
“We see a problem brewing in the data. When asked why consumers cut the cord and moved to streaming, the issue of ‘pay TV being too expensive’ may be quickly bypassed by the rationale that ‘all the shows I currently watch are on streaming’,” said Michael Nathanson, Analyst at MoffettNathanson and the author of the report.
“As more linear network owners shift more and more original content to their streaming services, they are potentially creating a ‘tragedy of the commons’ moment when all these individual actions end up collectively damaging a common good — in this case, the linear TV bundle,” Nathanson added.