With most new television shows available on both live linear channels and streaming video-on-demand (SVOD) services — either simultaneously or the next day — many viewers are faced with the daily dilemma of deciding where to watch their stories. A recent study from Aluma Insights Media Research as reported by Advanced Television, highlights that, for many users, this quandary really isn’t much of a dilemma at all.
The study indicates that, when a show is available simultaneously on both an SVOD service and a live TV channel, adult viewers are more than twice as likely to watch it on the streamer. This trend becomes more apparent when the numbers ar broken down by age group; viewers from ages 18-24 are over five times more likely to watch a show on SVOD than linear, whereas viewers aged 55-64 are only 1.3 times more likely to do so.
These numbers may not come as a surprise to some, as SVOD’s subscription numbers still far outpace those of live TV streaming, with cable subscribers also continuing to steadily decline. There are many potential reasons for the popular preference for SVOD over live TV, and the study’s results highlighted some of them.
For one, many prefer SVOD because it has less advertising. While there is definitely a portion of the population who is staunchly anti-commercials, this may not be as big a factor anymore as many would think. Ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) services are gaining popularity as a more economical alternative to traditional SVODs, showing that there’s a large portion of audiences who don’t mind a certain amount of advertisement.
Another obvious factor cited as a potential reason for SVOD’s dominance is the fact that it allows people to watch a show whenever they want, regardless of its scheduled airtime, as long as they can find an hour or so to squeeze it in at some point during the week. For people with busy schedules, this is invaluable. Some surveyed also believed they had an easier time finding interesting things to watch on SVOD, another benefit of the on-demand model.
Despite SVOD’s current state of dominance over live TV in many people’s minds, some believe that live TV streamers have no reason to despair. While SVOD streaming has more subscribers than any other kind of streaming in the United States, it also finds itself with the highest rate of cancellations, since many users see them as expendable luxuries that they can cut out at any time if their financial situation calls for it. This makes the revenue from SVOD less reliable than that of some of its counterparts.
These casual cancellations are often pushed by rising subscription prices and an over-abundance of different streaming platforms, something that fuboTV founder David Gandler said in 2021 could lead to customers flocking to live TV streaming as an alternative. While Gandler was clearly speaking from a biased position, and the mass exodus from SVOD doesn’t seem to have occurred yet, his logic is sound to a certain degree.
So even though this data seems to heavily indicate that SVODs are far more popular than live TV, and will likely stay that way, there are still reasons for live TV streaming services to be hopeful. If they can address some of the reasons people prefer SVODs, perhaps they can live up to Gandler’s prophecy after all.