TV Viewership Declines Across All Demos

 

• by Wayne Friedman, April 14, 2015, 3:44 PM

Traditional viewership for long-form video content, such as movies and television on a TV screen, has declined over the past year -- and not just with young viewers.

 

In a new survey, Accenture says there was a 13% drop worldwide and an 11% decline in the United States. Even looking at live TV viewing -- specifically at sports programming -- there have been cutbacks in usages on the traditional TV screen, 10% globally and 9% in the U.S.

 

Virtually all age brackets witnessed declines worldwide. Those 55 and older have seen a 6% cutback for movie/TV show content on the big screen and a 1% drop in sports programming. That said, younger viewers -- 14- to-17-year-olds -- have seen a steeper declines, down 33% for movies/TV shows worldwide and 26% for sports TV content.

 

Eighteen- to-34-year-old viewers have pulled back 14% for movies/TV and 12% for sports programming; those 35-to-54 gave up movies/TV by 11% and for sports, 9%.

 

Accenture says 89% of consumers watch long-form video on connected devices. But this isn’t entirely good news. More than half -- 51% -- say watching online video was a poor experience due to Internet services. Some 42% complained of too much advertising and 33% about buffering of video -- the time it takes for video to start playing. Thirty-three percent said there was a loss of sound or distortions during play.

 

New TV service entrants will not necessarily have an advantage over traditional TV players.

“New entrants, regardless of their brand, will have to prove their service quality to consumers to capture significant market share,” stated Gavin Mann, Accenture’s global broadcast industry lead. Accenture says new TV brands, like Apple, Netflix and Google, scored significantly lower than traditional broadcasters.

 

Accenture says research was conducted online in October and November 2014, with 24,000 consumers in 24 countries.

 

Dr. Philip Jay LeNoble of Executive Decision Systems Inc. of Littleton, Colorado noticed the research did indicate that while demographics moved away from traditional screens, TV was still watched on alternative connected devices albeit the there were problems with the transmission.