Pay-TV subscribers eager for live TV on their networked devices

49% of pay-TV subscribers definitely would switch to an operator offering TV EverywhereTV Everywhere services allow a pay-TV subscriber to access their television programming on a networked device after verifying their subscription. Though consumers have been slow to warm to TV Everywhere (TVE) services, a survey by The Diffusion Group revealed pent-up interest: 83% of respondents rate anywhere/anytime live access to their pay-TV channels as valuable (5 or higher on a 7-point scale). In fact, 40% ranked the application as “Very Valuable (7)”.

Consumers are also willing to switch Pay-TV operators to acquire this capability. When asked “Assume your current pay-TV operator provided on-demand access to some TV content but did not offer live access to your favorite channels, shows, or sports content on all your net-connected devices. There is, however, another reputable operator that provides the whole package…. Assuming costs were equal, how likely would you be to switch from your current operator to the one that offered the full package of online content options?”, 49% of respondents answered “Definitely would switch”.

The survey covered other aspects of respondents’ perceptions of the delivery of live linear content via a TV Everywhere service: in other words, instead of only having access to on-demand content (which comprises most of today’s TVE offerings), they would receive real-time TV transmissions over broadband so that they can access live TV on any net-connected device.

The Diffusion Group surveyed 1,015 online video viewers aged 18 to 65 who are Adult Broadband Users. The online survey was fielded in January, 2013. The survey results were not weighted.

For more information on this survey, refer to Bringing Multiscreen Live Linear Programming to Operator ‘TV Everywhere’.

Author Notes:

Jeffrey Henning

Jeffrey Henning, IPC is a professionally certified researcher and has personally conducted over 1,400 survey research projects. Jeffrey is a member of the Insights Association and the American Association of Public Opinion Researchers. In 2012, he was the inaugural winner of the MRA’s Impact award, which “recognizes an industry professional, team or organization that has demonstrated tremendous vision, leadership, and innovation, within the past year, that has led to advances in the marketing research profession.” In 2022, the Insights Association named him an IPC Laureate. Before founding Researchscape in 2012, Jeffrey co-founded Perseus Development Corporation in 1993, which introduced the first web-survey software, and Vovici in 2006, which pioneered the enterprise-feedback management category. A 35-year veteran of the research industry, he began his career as an industry analyst for an Inc. 500 research firm.