Why offer another Me Too Streaming service when there’s an opportunity to offer more —for less? Especially in small and mid-sized markets, consumers have little choice in a television service provider. And a limited selection means higher prices that often ignore TV preferences.
Rather than packaging content with a shiny bow and hoping viewers will open, we asked consumers nationwide what they wanted inside that box. Our goal is continuous learning, so we can keep delivering the perfect television experience.
We uncovered lots of interesting findings in the December, 2019 study. We identified segments of consumers with varying levels of interest in a new television concept. In the summary below, we aggregate attitudes, behaviors and preferences of the total sample, unless otherwise noted.
What matters most when watching TV?
Almost all participants in our study watch television to relax and be entertained. This helps explain why service reliability is so important to consumers. Specifically, when evaluating a range of criteria to select a TV provider, reliable service tops the list at 80% (top 2 box). No hidden fees and price are close seconds at 79% each. When asked to identify the single most important factor, price matters most.
It should be noted that picture quality and resolution are much more important to those interested in the Evoca concept than among the sample as a whole.
Avid television watchers aren’t necessarily early adopters of technology and are generally risk averse. However, they aren’t intimated by new technology either.
How and where do people watch TV?
Almost all participants in our study watch television to relax and be entertained. This helps explain why service reliability is so important to consumers. Specifically, when evaluating a range of criteria to select a TV provider, reliable service tops the list at 80% (top 2 box). No hidden fees and price are close seconds at 79% each. When asked to identify the single most important factor, price matters most.
When at home, people tend to watch TV/video content on their televisions (91%), versus smartphones (51%) or laptops (34%). The majority of participants have at least two televisions in their household (81%), with almost half having 3 or more. Of these sets, 59% are Smart TVs. Almost a quarter of the participants own 4K TVs (23%), with another fourth likely to purchase one in the next year.
Sixty percent of respondents only watch TV at home. A substantial minority are watching at locations outside of the home, including work (19%) and gyms (13%).
Most consumers are watching TV either alone or with a spouse/significant other. Only one in three watch television with their children.
How much do people spend on TV?
Consumers want a low price and feel cable and satellite companies charge too much (and, in fact, participants also told us they feel cable companies take advantage of their customers).
Participants in our study pay on average $106 each month for their cable service. While nearly one half of respondents have cable (49%), slightly less (44%) have both cable and streaming services. The total budget for TV adds up quickly in this scenario.
To entice consumers to switch to a new television service, most expect to pay $41-50 each month.
Who do people pay to watch on TV?
When evaluating service providers, including Fubo, Disney+, Hulu and others, cable and satellite are most often used to view both live television and TV in general. When watching live television specifically, a notable minority (10%) use over-the-air with an antenna and slightly fewer subscribe to Hulu with Live TV (7%) and YouTube Live (6%).
Among the streaming providers, Netflix is by far the most popular. When streaming programs, 86% do so via Netflix, with Amazon Prime a distant second at 58%.
Most also have Internet and phone service, often bundled with cable.
What are people watching on TV?
Network tv is the most frequently watched channel type (49%). Sports is a distant second (29%), scoring similarly to comedy, science, and home-focused channels. A variety of genres are watched, including comedy and action.
When watching television at home, consumers are viewing live programs most often, or 69% of the time.
Will people switch TV providers?
Though penetration of cable and satellite in our sample is high, most users are dissatisfied with these providers. (In contrast, most streaming services receive high satisfaction ratings.) Also perplexing, few have switched TV service providers more than once, and nearly half have never switched. Those who subscribe to Hulu and YouTube Live are much more likely to have switched, suggesting that cable users are moving to these streaming platforms for live programming.
Nearly one-in-five indicate they are likely to cancel their cable or satellite TV in the next 12 months and mention cost as the primary driver. Consumers are also likely to cancel some of the lesser used streaming services. These include AT&T Now (41%), Philo (36%) and ESPN+ (34%).
What did the Evoca study sample look like?
Consumers in the national study were aged 18-64, with an average age of 41. Over half were married and 48% had children at living home. Nearly a third were college educated and over half worked full-time. The sample was ethnically representative of total US population, and gender was evenly distributed.
Participants had a variety of interests, with music, cooking/baking and travel topping the list. Social media and television were top locations for getting news.To qualify for participation, consumers had to have television service in the household and be open to the idea of a new television service. They also must have been involved in telephone service decision.
How Will Evoca Use This Study?
Using data from this study, Evoca will provide our markets with programming they want to pay for, in service packages that are affordable – while leveraging the groundbreaking Next Gen TV technology. Evoca customers will be able to watch interactive 4K programming using over-the-air technology, without putting strain on Internet bandwidth. Using this new broadcast technology, our customers can enjoy high quality, reliable programming at a fraction of the cost of cable providers.