Nielsen: Millennials Putting Off Pay TV Until They Start Families

By Karen Fratti 

According to Nielsen’s Total Audience Report for the final quarter of 2o15, millennials are not as homogenous a group of technology and television consumers like you might have thought. One thing is for sure though: They are putting off television packages.

According to the report, Nielsen split up the group into Dependent Adults (DA), On Their Own (OTO) and Starting A Family (SAF) stages of life, among others. Those on their own are the least likely to have a multichannel service. The group in the SAF stage is more likely to have a multichannel service—79 percent of them have cable and more. Nielsen says the data implies having a cable package is a life stage (and budget) choice, rather than a “permanent decision.”

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On that note, millennials who are in the SAF stage watch way more live TV than millennials who are on their own. Overall, millennials in the 18-34 group watch about two hours and 45 minutes watching live TV every day and one hour and 23 minutes using TV-connected devices. That’s a solid daily four hours of using a TV.

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But they also mix it up. Over 40 percent of millennials use both TVs and connected devices to consume television.

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You can read the full report here.

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