A report from comScore says that online viewing on television has become mainstream in the United States. Over half of homes use online video services on a television watching for an average of over an hour and a half a day. Homes with Hulu watch for longer than those with Netflix, but those with online services from Sony, Dish or DIRECTV watch them at least twice as much.
51 million homes in the United States used online television or video services on a television set in April 2017, or over 50% of homes.
44% of these had cable and 22% had satellite, while 16% had terrestrial television and 18% were streaming only.
The average home using online television or video service on television watched 49 hours of such programming in the month, over an average of 15 viewing days.
Those households that had never had pay television watched an average of 61 hours a month online, while those that had cut their cable or satellite service watched 81 hours per month.
Among those households watching online, Hulu scored an average of 29 hours, followed by Netflix with 27, YouTube with 17, and Amazon Video at 11.
However, Netflix has the highest household penetration, at 40% of homes with WiFi, compared to Hulu with about 12%.
Hulu received an average of 2.9 hours per household per viewing day, with an average of nearly 10 viewing days a month.
Netflix was watched for an average of 2.2 hours per household per viewing day, but was watched on average over 12 days in a month.
Netflix is viewed in 3 out of every 4 households that watch online television or video.
In homes with an online pay-television service from Sony PlayStation Vue, Sling TV, or DIRECTV NOW, these services constituted over half of all online television and video viewing time. They accounted for an average of 57, 69 hours, and 81 hours a month respectively.
If these online virtual pay-television services can expand their reach, they have the potential to become major platforms for audience attention.
The State of OTT report is available to download from comScore. It is based on measurements from 12,500 homes across the United States.