Internet-Connected TV Propels Total TV Usage

Author: Wayne Friedman   Source: Mediapost

Total TV usage among key TV viewers was up slightly in July -- with big gains from Internet-connected TV devices.

Pivotal Research Group says total use of TV -- defined by all sources of "content inputs" -- was up 1% for 18-49 viewers in July. Overall TV use rose 2.6% in terms of average household viewing.

Focusing on 18-49 viewers, Internet-connected TV devices -- such as Roku, Apple TV, and Chromecast -- soared 65%, accounting for an 8.5% share of all TV use during the month, from 4.9% for the same period the previous year.

The two biggest platforms declined -- ad-supported cable TV dropped to 44.8% share from 47% and English-language broadcast TV fell 14.8% from 16.1%. Video game console TV viewing was steady -- 9.3% versus 9.2%.

Looking specifically at prime time for TV usage, there was a slight gain of 0.9% for households and a slight loss of 0.8% for adults 18-49.

On a total day basis, for all TV households, Internet-connected TV also witnessed a sharp rise -- to 5.5% of all TV consumption from 3.1%.

In analyzing total TV use, Brian Wieser, senior research analyst at Pivotal, writes: “While this data is incomplete, in the sense it excludes viewing of content on non-TV based devices, going beyond network-level ratings and looking at aggregated sources of viewing helps to better analyze the relative importance of the medium.”