North American consumer demand for video took a haircut in Q2

After explosively expanding throughout the pandemic era, consumer demand for streaming seems to be ebbing, at least a bit, according to the latest quarterly iteration of TiVo’s Video Trends Report.

First example: The average number of video sources tapped by U.S. TV watchers had been steadily growing over the previous five years. But the Q2 2024 version of TiVo’s report shows a retrenchment, with consumers, on average, using 1.8 fewer video sources in the second quarter versus the same period of 2023.

TiVo Video trends Q2 2024 graph 1
Consumers report using fewer video services on average.  (TiVo Q2 2024 Video Trends Report)

The biggest hit came in paid video sources, which were down from an average of 6.9 per survey respondents in the second quarter of 2023 to just 5.7 from April - June this year.

TiVo, a brand now owned by San Jose, Calif-based technology company Xperi Corp., found in its Q2 survey of North American consumers that 84% of respondents claimed to use a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service, down from 88% year over year. However, there is some good news for subscription streaming companies. Churn has declined, the TiVo report said, with consumers sticking longer with cheaper iterations of SVOD services that are partly underwritten by ads.

In the second quarter of this year, 18.5% of survey respondents said they’d cancelled an SVOD service versus 24.3% in the second quarter of 2023. Meanwhile, 64.3% of those polled said they subscribe to an ad-supported SVOD compared to just 48% in Q2 2023.

Notably, overall TV usage declined in Q2 to 4.4 hours a day versus 4.7 hours a year prior. Average daily SVOD usage was down from 30.7% of daily viewing to 28.6%, year over year. (Curiously, pay TV usage increased over the same span from 28.1% of viewing share to 30.3%.

TiVo Video trends Q2 2024 graph
Share of time spent viewing on SVODs declined in Q2 2024.  (TiVo Q2 2024 Video Trends Report)

Consumers, of course, have been fleeing the pay TV ecosystem for years, primarily to save money. But the Video Trends Report said that savings gap has closed a bit, with linear pay TV services dropping in price, and subscription streaming companies raising their monthly bills.

In 2022, TiVo’s Q2 survey found that pay TV subscribers were spending an average of $211.92 a month on video compared to just $62.30 for consumers who just subscribed to broadband, resulting in a “gap” of about $150. In the second quarter of this year, that chasm closed to an average of about $113 difference in video spending between pay TV and broadband-only subscribers. Overall average total monthly spending on video services was down $30 year over year to about $140, primarily driven by decreased spending by pay TV subscribers. 

TiVo Video Trends Q2 2024 graph 3
Average monthly spending on video services declined by about $30 year over year.  (TiVo Q2 2024 Video Trends Report)

Finally, the latest report identified other, more subtle, declines. Usage of voice remote features was down 9% year over year in the second quarter, with every audience segment, save for Baby Boomers, showing drops in interest level.

TVOD usage also declined markedly, the report said, with consumers renting or buying an average of 7.3 titles in the second quarter of this year versus 11.3 movies and TV shows in the same period of 2023.

Even in-car entertainment took a hit, with 27.4% of respondents claiming to having watched video in a vehicle during Q2, down from 38.7% year over year.

TiVo surveyed 4,490 people across the U.S. and Canada to compile the results.