Six in ten adult broadband users who use pay TV on-demand services in the United States have increased viewing as a result of Covid-19-related stay-at-home directives, with 19% reporting a significant increase, according to new research from The Diffusion Group (TDG).
“Much has been written about recent spikes in the use of on-demand streaming video services such as Netflix and Disney+, and for good reason,” noted Michael Greeson, President and Principal Analyst at TDG. “Our findings clearly demonstrate that, being largely confined to their homes, consumers see tremendous value in having access to on-demand shows and movies. And this holds true for all such services, including those offered by pay-TV providers,” he added.
According to TDG’s new research, 77% of adult broadband users that subscribe to a pay-TV service watch shows and movies via the service’s on-demand feature. Of those, 60% report spending more time watching on-demand programming as a consequence of having to stay at home due to local, state, or national directives related to Covid-19.
At the same time, on-demand viewers under the age of 45 were almost twice as likely as those 45 and older to have significantly increased on-demand use (23% vs. 13% respectively). Furthermore, 21% of those using virtual pay-TV on-demand report significant increases in viewing, a bit higher than their cable and fiber pay-TV counterparts (19%).