TV Everywhere Streaming Rises Among Cable Subs

Aided awareness of the streaming benefits of authenticated TV Everywhere services in pay TV subscriptions has climbed to 73% among adult cable subscribers — according to a new study from the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing and Hub Entertainment Research.

The latest CTAM/Hub study, conducted between August 2016-January 2017, involving 3,513 respondents that watch at least five hours of TV per week and get a high-speed Internet service at home, also found that about half (51%) of cable subscribers reported viewing TVE content in the past month. Also, 56% of respondents watched in the past six months.

The data showed that TVE availability also correlates to the value of the pay TV subscription, as 54% of cable subscribers said it brings more worth to the baseline offering, and 62% feel the same for their premium network subscriptions.

Though TVE adoption has room to expand, almost half of those asked said the availability of authenticated video services makes them feel more positive about their provider. Additionally, those customers are more likely (44% vs. 30%) to report that customer service from their cable provider has improved in the past year.

Of the subset of consumers who do view TVE content, 24% claim to be “heavy users” that watch daily or several times per week, a rise from 17% in January 2016. Heavy usage was greater among millennials (33%), compared to Generation X consumers (24%) and baby boomers (19%), although each age group saw a rise in this category when compared to results from the last study.

The study also focused on the growing use and adoption of home-based authentication and single sign-on methods designed to remove the friction from TVE adoption.

Some 42% of cable subs said they’ve heard of in-home automatic sign-in, and 59% said it would make them more likely to view TVE content. Awareness of out-of-home single sign-in features was lower, at 38%, and 54% said such a feature would help to steer them to TVE.