Survey: Paramount+ Sees Most Growth in Household Penetration; Broadband-Only Households Growing
As 2022 nears an end, many media companies are looking back on it as a year they’d rather forget. Many of the major companies in the industry, such as Disney, had to absorb big financial losses, and others like Warner Bros. Discovery had to slash content in order to find savings.
A new study by the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) has good news for some of these companies, and lumps of coal in the stockings of others. The survey found that Paramount+ saw the largest increase in household penetration of any streaming service in the U.S. in 2022. Paramount+ jumped from being used in 11% of households to 17%.
The study attributes Paramount+’s success to the hit Taylor Sheridan-created Western drama “Yellowstone.” Although “Yellowstone” does not stream on Paramount+, viewers of the series on the Paramount Network are constantly bombarded with ads for the service. Paramount+ does host other popular series from Sheridan, including “Tulsa King” and the upcoming “Yellowstone” prequel series “1923.” The service now claims 47 million global subscribers.
The ARF survey also had glimmers of good news for Disney+ and HBO Max. Household penetration of both of those services rose slightly, from 39% to 41% for Disney+, and from 27% to 29% for HBO Max. Disney+ launched an ad-supported tier in early December, a move it hopes will attract even more new subscribers. HBO Max became the home of the new “Game of Thrones” prequel series “House of the Dragon,” which helped drive new sign-ups and viewership records on the service.
The news was less good for Netflix and Prime Video. Netflix saw its household penetration decline from 69% to 66%, despite the launch of its own ad-supported price plan in November. Prime Video also saw a drop, from 58% to 56%, even though the service became the exclusive home of the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” this season.
The survey also confirmed that this holiday season will be a downright grim one for pay-TV providers. According to ARF, the number of homes that are broadband-only (meaning they use only internet sources to access TV content) grew from 25% in 2021 to 30% in 2022. Over the same period, pay-TV households declined from 61% to 57%.
Finally, the research done by ARF contains a troubling sign of things to come for TV manufacturers. According to the numbers, young adults who live alone are twice as likely as older viewers not to own a television. Although the number of TV-less households is just over 5%, it is growing, as more young people have become accustomed to streaming video on their mobile devices.
Paramount Plus
Paramount+ is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 40,000+ TV show episodes from BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and more. The lineup includes “1883,” “Tulsa King,” “Star Trek: Discovery,” Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants,” and “PAW Patrol.” Subscribers can watch the NFL, college football, The Masters, college basketball, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa, Serie A, and NWSL. The service also offers the option to watch your live CBS affiliate. The upgraded ad-free package includes premium movies and shows from Showtime.