You Won’t Believe How Much Video Consumers Are Streaming
A new study shows that consumers are watching an increasing amount of streaming online video every week.
The study, conducted by Limelight Networks, shows that people watch an average of 5.75 hours of online video every week. That is a 34 percent increase from 2016. And across the U.S., Americans are streaming an average of 6.58 hours of content every week.
What is interesting is that for people between the ages of 18 and 25, this figure jumps to seven hours of video per week. And more than one quarter of people in this age group watch streaming media for more than 10 hours per week.
As we have been saying right along, even though streaming content is skyrocketing among consumers, it’s not the end of the world. It’s just something to be aware of. In fact, cable companies that can figure out how to monetize broadband services actually stand to profit from data-hungry consumers.
Cable television content and online video can in fact coexist. Most media customers today want a mix of cable and online video — not one or the other. As the study also shows, the majority of online video viewers in the U.S. also subscribe to a cable or satellite television service. Plus, those who subscribe to satellite or cable television services subscribe to more streaming services.
The key takeaway is that at the end of the day, a large number of U.S. consumers are still watching video — both online and through traditional pay TV services. And that is a good thing.