6% of households watch TV exclusively on mobile devices

New findings from the Advertising Research Foundation show that an increasing number of American households watch TV exclusively on mobile devices.

The ARF study, which includes data collected online, in person and by telephone from 10,504 people ages 18 and older, found that more than 6% of respondents in U.S. households watch TV exclusively on mobile devices, an increase of more than 1 million households from then 2022. In 2022-23 the percentage of households without a TV increased from 7% to 8%.

“The trend toward mobile-only TV access shows no signs of slowing down, especially as it is driven by younger households,” Paul Donato, ARF research director, said in a statement Thursday. “It’s no surprise that younger households are behind many of the changes reshaping television.”

The study found that in 2023, 18-24-year-olds accounted for 17% of households without a TV, compared to 14% for 25-34-year-olds, 7% for 35-year-olds 44 years and 3% for people aged 55–64. elderly people and 2% for people aged 65+.

Looking at ‘yesterday’s viewing’ across households, 83% of 18-24-year-olds watch on any screen, 60% on TV and 33% on any device. For people aged 34-55, this percentage is 88%, 77% and 17%, respectively, and for people aged 65+ 89%, 85% and 7%, respectively.

The company argues that the increase in the number of TV-only households highlights the need to “redefine the basis for measuring TV viewing to include all households using a TV signal, not just those that own TVs.”

In addition to the findings regarding TV viewing on mobile devices, ARF found that household penetration of ad-supported streaming services increased from 17% in 2022 to 45% in 2023, while ad-free penetration decreased from 79% to 72%. .

Households headed by people aged 18-54 accounted for 62% of U.S. households
in 2023, but an estimated 71% of the more than 400 million paid streaming subscriptions in the US. Not surprisingly, these households were much more likely to subscribe to streaming services than their older counterparts.

In 2023, 10% of younger households did not have a streaming pay TV service and 62% had three or more streaming services, compared to 28% of older households with no streaming pay TV and 41% with three or more. Younger households were also more likely than older households to add subscriptions and change service tiers, but older households were more likely to opt out of services outright – especially SVOD.

Netflix leads U.S. household penetration with 63% of all respondents, followed by Amazon’s Prime Video (57%), Hulu (40%), Disney+ (36%), Max (26%), Peacock (24%), Paramount+ (23 %)) and Apple TV+ (16%).

Since the ban on password sharing was unveiled, the number of Netflix accounts shared with outside relatives dropped from 36% in 2022 to 28% in 2023, and accounts shared with friends dropped from 13% to 9%. Sharing levels among Disney+ (13% to 9%) and Amazon (8% to 5%) subscribers also declined year-over-year, although neither company took action to reduce sharing in the U.S. in 2023

Households headed by people aged 55+ were more likely than their younger counterparts to use a virtual multi-channel programming distributor (vMVPD), such as YouTube TV or Hulu + Live TV, to watch linear TV, suggesting that the services these have gone mainstream.

ARF also found that limited live TV services from Paramount+ and Peacock, which offer local and network programming from CBS and NBC, respectively, have brought live TV access to 6% of U.S. households that previously had none.

Additionally, FAST services arrived on the scene in 2023, with 22% of all households surveyed using one, 12% using two, 7% using three, and 4% using four.