Internet-Based Pay-TV Subscribers Experimenting With Different Services, LRG Says

Eleven percent of U.S. adults ages 18-44 have an internet-delivered pay-TV service such as Sling TV, DirecTV Now, PlayStation Vue, Hulu with Live TV or YouTube TV, Leichtman Research Group reported Monday. The 18- to 34-year-old age group accounts for 53 percent of U.S. adults with a live-streaming pay-TV service, it said. Some 49 percent of internet-based pay-TV subscribers have a TV antenna for viewing over-the-air broadcast TV, and 35 percent also have a pay-TV service from an MVPD, analyst Bruce Leichtman said. Nearly 70 percent of current internet-delivered pay-TV subscribers are very satisfied with their service, but 27 percent are very likely to switch in the next six months, the report said, while 24 percent of those who don't have an internet-delivered pay-TV service are very interested in getting one. Households with internet-delivered pay-TV services are largely augmenting other sources of video in the home and “experimenting with the various streaming pay-TV services to discover what combinations of video offerings work best for their household,” the analyst said. Findings were based on an online survey of 6,947 U.S. adults.