TV Viewers Vary Widely, Blogs NPD Analyst
The future of TV content won’t follow a linear path as consumers adopt combinations of services, said a Tuesday NPD blog post. Analyst John Buffone identified four personas. The cable customer wants a large channel bundle, has low tolerance for…
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quality of service issues and wants traditional user interfaces, remotes and familiar channel numbers. The morphing cable customer wants streaming media, too, and 45 percent use Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Hulu, driving integration of apps into set-top boxes like Comcast's X1. As streaming TV buffering and latency issues diminish, this consumer will become a core target for virtual MVPD subscriber acquisition. Tech-savvy consumers get a skinny TV bundle through a service such as Sling TV and attach a media player for a few desired channels. Forty-four percent of these virtual MVPD subscribers are 35-54 years old and typically tune into family networks. The direct-to-consumer (DTC) trend adopted by many millennials -- paying for just those channels they watch -- has extended beyond HBO to NBC, CBS, Disney and others. Amazon Channels gave support to this model. The smallest, “most intriguing” future TV customer, checks out a wide range of video options: Snapchat shorts, Facebook originals, “and will identify if a strategy such as Viacom’s mobile partnerships has legs,” Buffone said.