TDG surveyed 1,997 US adults with a broadband data service in the home about their TV and video behaviours. The study revealed that just over three-quarters of adult broadband users that subscribe to a pay-TV service watch shows and movies via the service’s on-demand feature; of those, 60% report spending more time watching on-demand programming as a consequence of having to stay at home due to local, state or national directives related to Covid-19.

TDG also found that on-demand viewers under the age of 45 were almost twice as likely as those 45 and older to have significantly increased on-demand use, specifically 23% compared with 13% respectively. Just over a fifth of those using virtual pay-TV on-demand report significant increases in viewing, a bit higher than their cable and fibre pay-TV counterparts at 19%. Satellite on-demand viewers were found to be lagging in this regard with only 13% reporting significant increases.

Looking at regions of the US, TDG revealed that 23% of pay-TV on-demand users in the Western US report a significant increase in use, compared with 19% of those in the Northeast, 18% of those in the South, and 16% of those in the Midwest. As regards gender demographics, female pay-TV on-demand viewers were as likely as their male counterparts to have significantly increased on-demand viewing under stay-at-home directives.

“Much has been written about recent spikes in the use of on-demand streaming video services such as Netflix and Disney+, and for good reason,” noted Michael Greeson, TDG president and principal analyst. “Our findings clearly demonstrate that, being largely confined to their homes, consumers see tremendous value in having access to on-demand shows and movies. And this holds true for all such services, including those offered by pay-TV providers.”