While the general talking point amongst the streaming community is that expansion in the United States is approaching (if it’s not already at) its saturation point, new data from research firm Comscore indicates that diverse audiences have become a key driver behind the growth of streaming services and programming in the U.S., accounting for 41% of wifi-enabled households that watch over-the-top (OTT) content.
This total has grown steadily since 2019 when the total was at 39%. While it actually peaked in March 2021 at 42%, because of the continued adoption of streaming services, the percentage of diverse audiences using OTT services declined year over year but still saw a 1.2 million home increase.
In a study conducted over a three-year period from March 2019 to March 2022, Comscore found that during this time period, African American OTT users increased by 35%, Hispanic OTT viewers increased 41%, Asian OTT viewers increased 69%, and American Indian OTT viewers increased by 66%.
However, the study found that these substantial increases were not reserved for just streaming adoption. When it comes to OTT hours watched per household, African Americans saw a 66% increase and American Indians had an 88% increase over those three years. These two audiences accounted for the most viewing hours per household out of all of the diverse audiences sampled by Comscore.
When it comes to individual streaming services, African-American households use nearly a full streamer more than the domestic average. The Black community averages 6.3 streaming services per home, while the national average is at just 5.5.
Netflix is the most popular streamer amongst Black families with 86% of homes included in the survey using the service; the streaming giant also accounts for 28% of the OTT viewing hours among these households as well. YouTube is second with over three-quarters (76%) of homes having access and the platform’s videos accounting for 24% of viewing time.
While Hispanic households are just ever-so-slightly above the national average at 5.6 services each, their per-service breakdowns are almost identical to those of African-American households. Asian-American homes use a little more than half a service less than the U.S. average (4.9 per household), and while Netflix’s reach is still the largest, households report 2% more time spent on YouTube than Netflix (31% to 29%).
The extensive, three-year Comscore research reveals that diverse populations are outpacing the national average when it comes to streaming adoption, especially amongst African-American, Hispanic, and American Indian households. However, while all of these communities are seeing impressive rises in streaming usage, they are not a monolith. Instead, they each have their own specific interests and reasons to come to streaming. Therefore, it would behoove platforms to address their needs with unique, specifically tailored approaches.
Much like services are doing when they launch around the world with features and content designed to appeal to the unique audiences in individual countries, if streamers want to continue to expand domestically, they should come up with ways to cater to underrepresented communities here at home, rather than just expecting all households to want the same exact content as all of their neighbors.