According to Horowitz Research’s State of OTA 2020 study, two in five (40%) TV content viewers over the age of 18 reports owning an antenna, a 29% increase year over year. Over-the-air (OTA) access and TV viewing are crucial for, but potentially being distracted by TV platforms, such as traditional and streaming.“With the ever-growing mix of both on-demand and linear streaming services, antennas can feed the need for this live and local TV content at minimal cost,” Stephanie Wong, director of insights and strategy at Horowitz, said. “In markets where the major broadcast networks can all be received, primarily urban, traditional operators need to pay close attention to the growth and impact of antennas.”
Nielsen projects that there are 121 million TV households for the 2020-2021 TV season, with approximately 48.4 million households owning an antenna. Increases were noted particularly among Black households with a year-over-year increase from 27% to 39%, non-Hispanic households at 25% to 43%. For ages 18-34 year-olds, the increases were 20% to 42%, a 110% increase year over year.
Growth in OTA can be expected to continue as advanced features are developed. OTA viewers frequently combine their antenna usage with MVPDs and/or streaming services. Antenna users in the State of OTA survey spend 6.4 hours a day watching TV and, on average, spend a third of their viewing time with over-the-air content. 82% of antenna users are also streamers and 59% also subscribe to an MVPD.
The rise of cable TV varying among rural, suburban and urban markets. In urban markets, 53% of TV content viewers 18+ currently own (47%) or intend to get an antenna compared to 41% in suburban markets and 38% in rural markets. Three-quarters (74%) of antenna users who live in urban areas report favorable ratings for their overall antenna experience, whereas satisfaction drops to 61% among users in rural areas of the country.