RESTON, Va.—The streaming industry has officially passed a notable milestone with the number of people in the U.S. adopting ad-supported streaming services surpassing those who use streaming services without ads, according to Comscore.
The new Comscore 7th annual State of Streaming report also shows shows a 21% increase in the number of CTV hours per household watched, rising almost 2 billion year-over-year in 2023, up from 9.6 billion to 11.5 billion (May '22-May '23) with ad supported services capturing the bulk of new viewing.
The streaming landscape was dominated for many years by services like Netflix and Disney+ that did not offer advertising, a trend that raised serious concerns for the future of advertising. In recent years, however, major players have been focused on new ad-supported offerings and consumers have followed, with the Comscore study showing that adoption of ad-supported services have grown by 17% in the last two years versus a 9% growth in SVOD services without ads.
"While the top US streaming services are keeping up with the demand for subscriptions, new growth can be observed in FAST streaming platforms like Roku, Pluto and Tubi which are increasingly consolidating their position in the household mix," said James Muldrow, vice president, product management, Comscore. "At the same time, cable/satellite subscribers remain some of the most engaged users in the streaming landscape. With three cable/satellite providers in the Top 10 ranking of video services based on hours watched per household, these findings highlight the success of these providers in offering advertisers consistently engaged streaming audiences."
The 2023 State of Streaming report examines the current state of streaming adoption, growth trends and services, to help brands and advertisers improve their reach and targeting, Comscore said.
Another major trend highlighted by the Comscore study is the growth of what might be called a longer-tail of streaming. While there is growth across the board, 75% of new hours were captured by providers beyond the top six apps—Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Max/MAX and Disney+—as FAST and Targeted Programming consumption accelerates, the researchers said.
According to the analysis, the streaming audience size also continues to grow, up to 73% (YoY) from 69% in 2022, Comscore said.
Additional findings include:
- Digital video is accelerating its growth: Hours watched on connected devices have risen 20% year-over-year with 81% of WiFi households now streaming on CTV.
- US households are adopting ad-supported streaming services at a faster rate: CTV households streaming ad-supported streaming services reached 83.7M, a 17% increase (from 2021-2023), while households streaming non-ad-supported services reached 81.1M, a 9% increase.
- Consumption of Targeted programming on FAST/Advertising-based Video on Demand services is accelerating: Hispanic households consume nearly twice as many hours of FAST content, increasing 81% year-on-year.
- Linear programming is evolving within the digital landscape: On the measure of content performance, 3 linear streaming providers are included in the Top 10 video services (MVPD streaming) on hours viewed per HH.
- Cord Cutters have eclipsed traditional TV subscribers: As of May 2023, 60% of CTV households are now cordless, compared to just 37% in May 2019.
- Smart TVs are the dominant force for CTV streaming: Total households that stream content via Smart TVs increased 23% from May 2021, followed by gaming consoles at 18%.
The 2023 State of Streaming findings will be presented during a live webinar at 2pm ET on August 29, 2023. To register, visit: https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Events-and-Webinars/Webinar/2023/2023-State-of-Streaming
