While competition among paid streaming services is growing, many cord cutters are choosing antennas to watch OTA TV for free.
According to the OTA: The New TV Growth Story 2019 from Horowitz Research, one in three (29%) TV content viewers 18+ report owning an antenna and one in four (24%) actively uses an antenna to watch TV on at least TV in their home.
The study shares some interesting insight about the demographics of antenna users. While there tends to be a stereotype that antennas are most often used by older, less tech-savvy individuals, the Horowitz study reveals that half of the antenna users today are under 50; 24% are 18-34.
“Horowitz Research’s first claim to fame in the early 1980s was the research we did for the emergent cable industry to understand ‘who will pay for TV when TV is free?” notes Adriana Waterston, Horowitz’s SVP of Insights and Strategy. “We seem to have come full circle now. Free or low-priced TV is more readily available to consumers than ever before. The number of OTA channels is increasing. And new technologies like OTA DVRs, OTA integration into connected TV platforms, and the rollout of Next Gen TV standards will only serve to increase consumer awareness and accelerate usage of over-the-air content in the viewing diets of American viewers.”
The study also mentions the link between antenna usage and cord cutting. 39% of antenna users who stream but do not subscribe to a traditional pay-TV service say that a key reason they got an antenna was so that they could cancel their cable/satellite service. Another 28% said that it was a reason, though not the key reason.
As the costs of cable continue to rise, will more people add an antenna to their cord cutting setup to get OTA channels for free? Let us know what you think in the comments!
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