Six years ago, streaming onto the largest screen in the home was fundamentally more of a novelty than it was 'way of life'. It was ancillary to a broader 'entertainment' experience and something we might turn to when we were having a movie night or lazy afternoon. Also, the 'living room' portion of our streaming experience was often one that was reserved for smaller screens vs family viewing through the TV.
When Roku made streaming sticks a mainstream appendage to our TV's, the TV manufacturers realized that they had made a critical mistake - it wasn't enough for their sets simply to be 'Smart' anymore; they needed to offer the viewer an experience they wanted. So as more people started streaming through their TV's, they had to play catch up...and that's exactly what they did. After all, streaming shows through our TV's gave consumers control over their content, opened up a world of adventure - and cost less than cable.
While Roku, Amazon, Apple and even gaming consoles were all upping their game in response to the fact that consumers clearly loved streaming through the TV, so were the media owners. The staple services that had become household names (Netflix, Hulu etc) all improved and in addition to that, local broadcast groups, weather stations, movie studios, sports networks and fringe entertainment companies all started investing in providing their audiences with an alternative way of getting their content.
Ultimately, this perfect storm of consumer desire, hardware capability and content availability all led to one thing - the demise of cable. In 2020 alone, a further 6.6 million households cut the cord, leaving only 77.6 million still pay for cable*. If that's not enough, in 2021 it is estimated that a further 27% of households will be cancelling their pay-TV packages.
So what does this all mean? Well, with 68% of all viewing time now devoted to streaming vs 28% going to traditional TV**, I think the answer is clear - in the eyes of the consumer, CTV IS TV.
And what the consumer says, goes.
If you want to hear more about 'the state of the streaming nation', we'll be hosting a highly immersive webinar in June and you're invited. We'll be inviting a panel of industry leaders to join us as we ask the really big questions and revealing what we learnt when we surveyed thousands of homes across the country to get their take on all this.
To register, email us today and we'll send the invite over in due course: solutions@originmedia.tv
We look forward to seeing you there!
ABOUT ORIGIN
Origin is a pioneering media and advertising company whose first to market creative solutions are reshaping how brands engage and activate consumers on Connected TV.
The original architects of ‘Native CTV’, Origin’s in-house animation studio produces engaging native content for advertisers that is designed to capture the attention of a room, immerse the audience in active dialogue and elevate the connection they feel towards a brand.
Origin Media was founded by media veterans Freddie Godfrey and Stephen Strong, whose success has been shaped by a relentless commitment to disrupting the status quo. Learn more at www.originmedia.tv.
*eMarketer - September 2020
** Forbes - January 2021