The State of Pay TV, OTT & SVOD 2019 study found that just over a third of viewers are accessing over-the-air TV content via an antenna. Antenna owners are younger — 40% of antenna owners are 18-34, compared with 31% of total TV content viewers — and skew male (59%), as opposed to 49% of total TV content viewers.

Among traditional MVPD non-subscribers, 51% report owning an antenna. Antenna owners are more likely to subscribe to one of the three major SVOD services. Just over three-quarters subscribe to Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime Video, compared with two-thirds of all TV content viewers. Antennas are also popular in traditional MVPD subscriber households: 30% of traditional MVPD subscribers report owning an antenna.

These findings suggest that antennas are one way consumers who eschew traditional MVPDs for new options are filling in the live, local and broadcast gaps in their viewing. Horowitz’s data reveals that antenna owners spend 19% of their time watching on an antenna, 44% streaming, and 32% through an MVPD, watching live, DVR, or VOD. The remaining time is with DVDs.

“Many TV viewers have long felt tied to traditional cable because of their desire to stay connected to live news and sports, along with local and national content from broadcasters,” said Stephanie Wong, Horowitz director, Insights and Strategy commenting on the report. “With today’s stronger signals and advances in technology, along with improved design aesthetics, antennas are re-emerging as an inexpensive and practical way of accessing TV content.”

Adriana Waterston, SVP, Insights and Strategy, Horowitz, added, “Pay-TV’s advantage has long been its variety of content, superior picture quality, and reliability. As the broadcast industry works to improve its standards and achieve widespread adoption of ATSC 3.0—which, according to *** announcements from NAB , will reach 40 markets by 2020—that advantage gap has the potential to shrink, with adoption of over-the-air viewing increasing.”