Internet Tipping Point: Laptops and desktops overtake TVs as preferred devices for watching TV shows

Accenture:

Signaling an accelerating shift in the digital video market consumer behavior, the percentage of consumers who prefer watching TV shows on television sets plummeted by 55 percent over the past year, from 52 percent to 23 percent, according to findings from the Accenture 2017 Digital Consumer Survey.

The global online survey of 26,000 consumers in 26 countries* reveals that consumers increasingly prefer to watch TV shows on devices such as laptop and desktop personal computers and smartphones. More than four in 10 consumers (42 percent) said they would rather view TV shows on a laptop or desktop, up from 32 percent in last year’s survey. Thirteen percent said they prefer watching TV shows on their smartphones, compared with 10 percent last year.

The decline in TV viewing over the past year tracks with a four-year trend. As recently as 2014, the survey revealed that nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of consumers preferred the TV set for viewing TV shows.

The most-recent findings, summarized in a new Accenture report titled Winning Experiences in the New Video World, show that only one in five consumers (19 percent) now prefer to watch sports games on their TVs, down from 38 percent in the prior-year survey.

eMarketer:

The digital video audience is growing, and this year the number of digital video viewers worldwide will climb to 2.15 billion.

Digital video viewership growth will remain steady, in part due to the increased availability of content created in local languages. The option to download videos will also spur some growth, as consumers seek alternatives to poor mobile connection streaming while on the go. The top video sources worldwide consist of OTT services like Hulu, Netflix and Vimeo and social media platforms Facebook and YouTube. Among the top players in China, where 569.0 million digital video viewers reside, are internet platform Sohu and video hosting site YouKu Tudou.