TV Viewing Preferences Continue Skewing Toward Non-TV Devices, Report Says

The percentage of consumers who prefer to watch television shows on a TV plunged from 52 percent to 23 percent in 2016, said a global Accenture report Monday, tracking a four-year trend. Consumers in 26 countries indicated a preference for watching television shows on non-TV devices, with 42 percent saying they would rather view TV shows on a PC, up from 32 percent the prior year, and 13 percent said they prefer watching shows on a smartphone, up from 10 percent, said the study. In 2014, two-thirds of consumers preferred watching shows on a TV, it said. Just 19 percent of consumers prefer to watch sports on a TV, down from 38 percent in the 2015 survey, said the report. Driving the rapid shift in consumer preferences is the “growing convenience, availability and quality of more personalized and compelling content on laptop and desktop personal computers and smartphones,” said analyst Gavin Mann. The report showed a particularly steep decline in India, where consumers preferring to watch programs on TV sets fell from 47 percent to 10 percent. In the U.S., the number dropped from 59 percent to 25 percent, it said. The online survey was done between October and November with about 26,000 consumers ages 14 to 55 and over.