STUDY: People Still Prefer TV Set Over Online Viewing

A telco marketing and an audience research company claim that 94% of adults who subscribe to cable or satellite television services prefer to watch TV on traditional TV sets.

There's a new study out by Nielsen, a company that provides audience research for the broadcast industry, and the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM), which is "dedicated to helping the cable business grow," that claims that some 94% of adults who subscribe to cable or satellite television services prefer to watch television on traditional TV sets.

Among the more interesting findings:

• 35% of adult broadband users said they had watched at least one TV show online that had originally been shown on broadcast TV.


• Of this 35%, some 87% said they watched it on a TV network website.


• 82% of those who watched a TV show online said they did so to view something they missed when it first aired on TV.


• 14% of adult broadband users watched a show online at least once a week.


• Of those respondents who own a video iPod, 35% have never watched a single video on it (take that MAC fanboys!)

Asked to choose among 17 online content categories, online TV viewers also said they prefer to watch shorter video clips when they go online. Specifically, movie trailers (53%), user generated videos (45%), music videos and general news segments (37%), comedy programs (31%), and sports clips (31%) were respondents' top choices

"Tracking how consumer behavior is changing as a result of new television viewing platforms is critical to our business," said Char Beales, President and CEO of CTAM. "As preferences are made clear through research, cable companies and content providers evolve the product mix to best suit viewers' needs and desires."

I think the study is part of efforts by Nielson in recent years to stay on top of the emerging time-shifting option TV viewers have increasingly enjoyed, be it via DVRs or finding content online.

"With so many viewing options now available via digital technology, it's more important than ever to understand how people are consuming media," said Susan Whiting, Executive Vice President, The Nielsen Company. "This analysis shows a continuing strong appetite for watching television the traditional way even as viewers begin to extend their viewing to the personal computer."

In general, the study found that people are spending more time online each week than they were two years ago. More than 51% reported being online for at least three hours a week last year. In 2005, just 41% of those surveyed said they spent three or more hours online per week.

It can hardly be considered an unbiased study considering who's behind it, but it's conclusions are also based on survey respondents who paid for cable or satellite TV in addition to Internet access. A more interesting and informative study would've also tried to determine how many people dropped their dropped their cable or satellite TV subscriptions in order to view TV content exclusively online.

I mean of course people will prefer watching programs on a 45" inch flatscreen TV set over a 19 or 20" monitor any day, but when it comes down to saving $80 bucks or more every month it's often a no-brainer.

The study also reports that HDTV subscribers are exceptionally loyal: Of those respondents who own HDTV sets, 20% said they watch HDTV programs "every time," and 45% said "most of the time."

If it weren't for my brother, and his love affair with our DVR and thousands of channels to time-shift content from, I would've cancelled my cable TV subscription long ago. I can find an episode of virtually any TV series ever made online with BitTorrent sites like BiteMeTV.org for example, or simply stream more contemporary ones.

I think that ultimately the Internet and the living room will merge and TV programming increasingly become an on-demand affair. That is, however after cable providers and broadcasters figure out how to satisfactorily monetize, or should I say monopolize, the platform like they did with traditional broadcast TV.