Most Pay-TV Subscribers Keep It for One Reason

It's bundled with internet, says survey
By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 25, 2017 3:50 PM CDT
Typical Binge-Watching Session Is 5 Hours
   (Jeff Fusco/AP Images for Comcast)

The day of the couch potato is gone in one sense: We're not necessarily on couches when we binge on video content. But it's alive and well in another: We're watching a heck of a lot of content, usually while multitasking. These are among the findings in a new survey by Deloitte that asked 2,100 Americans ages 14 and older about their media consumption habits. Some takeaways:

  • 70% of Americans binge-watch content, defined as watching three or more episodes at one sitting, and about one-third do so weekly; millennials and those younger binge the most (more than 80% overall and about 35% weekly).
  • When they binge, people ages 14 to 33 typically watch five hours straight, reports Quartz.
  • 74% of people subscribed to pay-TV services such as cable or satellite, and Deadline finds it interesting that two-thirds of them say they do so because it's bundled with internet service.

What's more, watching TV on its own doesn't seem to provide enough entertainment for millennials and Gen Zers, 99% of whom say they do so while juggling an average of four other activities such as texting, shopping online, checking email, and checking social media. Another nugget: Nearly half of all US consumers subscribe to streaming services, reports Broadband TV News, the highest level in the survey's 11-year history. (Binge-watching five hours a day may increase the risk of blood clots.)

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