• Research: 42% of Americans Stream and Download Movies and TV Shows Daily

    42% of Americans stream and download movies and TV shows daily, more than viewers in any other country. This is among the key findings of Limelight’s newly released “State of Digital Lifestyles 2019” report, which surveyed 4,500 users across 9 countries. Only India was close in daily movie and TV consumption, with 41.4% streaming and downloading. The country with the lowest daily consumption was France with 21.2%, followed by Singapore with 26.8%.

    On a global basis 26-35 year olds are the biggest consumers, with 51.4% downloading and streaming on a daily basis, and 81.7% doing so on a weekly basis. Consumers over 60 years old had the lowest consumption, with just 15.2% downloading and streaming on a daily basis.

    Movies and TV shows also fared well for consumers’ willingness to pay. 57% of respondents said they’d be willing to pay for movies and TV shows, followed by e-books (53.2%), music (49.9%) and video games (49%). By country, Germany had the highest rate of willingness to pay for movies and TV shows at 64.2%, followed by the U.S. (63.9%) and the U.K. (62.7%). Globally, 65.5% of 18-25 year olds were willing to pay for movies and TV shows, slightly ahead of 26-35 year olds (63.4%). Women and men were about equally likely to pay for movies and TV shows (57.6% to 56.7%).

    The report also showed a big opportunity to educate viewers about the benefits of downloading and watching offline. 66.5% of viewers globally prefer streaming vs. 25.8% downloading, and 7.7% DVD. 12.2% of Americans prefer downloading, the 2nd lowest rate, just after Germany (10.2%). South Korea (44.8%) has by far the highest preference rate for downloading.

    Downloading offers substantial benefits in mobility, quality of experience and data use savings. But it is a relatively new feature and is still not offered by popular services like Hulu and HBO Now, so many Americans may not yet have experienced downloading.

    The full report includes lots of other interesting data, and is available for complimentary download.