Summary
No surprise: Millennials watch TV quite differently than older adults. Symphony Advanced Media’s VideoPulse panel, which tracked the viewing of individuals through a mobile app, revealed how:
- Millennials watch primetime broadcast programs further out from air date than adults 35-54; Millennials’ viewing of primetime series increased 2.5 times over their Live+Same Day viewing.
- Millennials are much more likely to watch primetime broad cast programs through OTT platforms than adults 35-54.
- Young Millennials’ top five programs in Live+35 viewing were streaming originals. Among adults 25-34, the top two were streaming originals. Streaming originals did not rank as high among adults 35-54.
- Millennials’ embrace of OTT viewing “parallels” their “shift away from traditional cable packages.” Nearly one third of 18-24 year-olds and nearly one quarter of 24-34 year-olds were cord-cutters.
- Millennials were more likely than 35-54 year-olds to admit that they watched TV through “piracy or other non-paid methods.”
Symphony Advanced Media concluded that “there are clear shifts in when and where different generations are accessing TV programs” and that the industry should consider metrics that value viewing in longer time windows.
