TV And Video Have Come Out Of The Box, Accenture Survey Finds

Consumers in the U.S. and U.K. are changing the way they view TV and video content by increasingly taking control of how, when, and where they view it, according to a new survey released today by Accenture (NYSE: ACN).

About half (49 percent) of consumers surveyed in Accenture’s Pulse of Media Consumer Survey are viewing over-the-top (OTT) video through a broadband connection on their TVs (50 percent in the U.S. and 48 percent in the U.K.) in addition to the content they traditionally watch via cable or satellite.

Consumers are also viewing content on mobile devices, creating video playlists, posting videos on social media, and learning about new TV programs and video offerings through social networks, according to the survey.

“We are seeing a seismic shift in consumer viewing habits,” said Robin Murdoch, a managing director in Accenture’s Media & Entertainment industry group. “The connected consumer is now comfortable viewing TV shows and video on a variety of screens, as well as sharing opinions of that content via social channels or recommendation engines.”

Not surprisingly, the survey found younger viewers are leading the way in using these new technologies to view video content.

In the U.S., 82 percent of consumers between the ages of 18 and 24 watch some OTT video, with 60 percent watching at least a quarter of their video over-the-top (compared to 32 percent of U.S. consumers overall). In the U.K., 75 percent of consumers in that age group watch some OTT, with 54 percent watching at least 25 percent (compared with 28 percent of overall consumers) in this manner.

Younger consumers are also more likely to discover new content through social networks as opposed to learning about it through commercials or programming guides. The survey showed that 35 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds are interested in social newsfeeds of videos that friends have watched compared with 11 percent of consumers age 45 and older.

1 2 3 4 Next › Last »