Live video streaming has yet to find a significant audience, according to a just-released Cogent Reports study by Market Strategies International, which found that only 11% of streaming customers pay for live streaming video. Moreover, the analysis identified a preference for watching over-the-top streams on smart TV sets in homes with those devices, although smartphones are also popular.

In the context of recent deals (like the $1.5 billion plan for Verizon Wireless to stream National Football League games), the Cogent findings underscore the hopes and expectations of media companies.

Related: PwC Sees Sports Media Rights Overtaking Gate Receipts Next Year

"Live-stream TV features, such as real-time viewing and access to sports or local programs, don’t produce the same lift in reach that comes from improved navigation and expanded content," according to the report, titled "StreamOn." A sample of the report's findings is available here.

“TV providers are failing to recognize that the habits and needs of the viewer have dramatically changed, and the old rules of television no longer apply,” said Greg Mishkin, vice president of research and consulting at Market Strategies. “TV providers must evaluate and revise the business model to fit the needs of the consumer, because if they don’t, they are setting themselves up to fail.”

"Different needs" lead to various behaviors, according to Cogent's report. It identified three types of users: "Complementers," who pay for a streaming service in addition to traditional pay TV (about 53% of respondents,); "Supplementers," who cancel or downgrade traditional Pay TV (29%); and "Testers," who do not pay for streaming services but have tested various offers (19%).

Cogent's analysis also identified that computers, smartphones and smart TVs were the most-used devices on for streaming shows (see chart). In homes with a smart TV, 91% of streaming customers use that screen, but overall, computers are the favorite device (65% of consumers view videos on it), while 45% use smartphones -- substantially more than use tablets (34%), gaming consoles (31%), or streaming media players (25%) or sticks (17%).

The study includes customer satisfaction responses for quality, reliability and overall satisfaction (mostly in the 86% to 91% range) for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu.

The broad popularity of streaming was underscored by the finding that 73% of respondents have used a paid streaming service; of the remaining 27% of respondents, 44% haven't used any streaming service and are unaware of any video streaming services (the report classified them as "out of category").

According to the report, the qualitative expectations around live streaming may be partly content-related: Some of today’s attraction to live streaming stems from the gaps in content on VOD streaming services, including the delay between the live air dates of network programs and their release dates on other services.

"This may explain the relatively low boost in reach associated with 'real-time/live viewing.'" said the study. "As usage patterns change, many are becoming accustomed to watching time-shifted TV, but the shift needs to be brief. If streaming providers figure out how to solve for that, live-streaming needs may change."

Using a "base-streaming service" priced at $10 per month appealing to 40% of its survey sample, Cogent found that local programming attracted only 4% more viewers, "real-time live viewing" added 3% and live sports added 2%.

Video Transcends "Commodity" Status
"Video is more than just a commodity," Cogent's analysis concluded.

It "facilitates" social and emotional needs, including family activity, relaxation, stress reduction, education and adventure, according to the report.

In its study, Cogent found that 48% of streaming customers often watch videos with others, and 22% frequently converse (multitasking) via social media while watching video streams. About two-thirds of streaming viewers often watch alone.

In a granular analysis of the potential streaming market, the report found that:

· 82% of respondents paid for a streaming service;

· 44% had "trialed" (tested) a streaming service;

· 32% had shared a streaming service; and

· 3% had both trialed and shared a service.

Looking to make a more convincing argument about the scope and quality of its core daytime audience, CNBC will retain a new measurement service come the fourth quarter of 2015.

The NBCUniversal business-news network will make the move toward Cogent Reports, a unit of Market Strategies International, and away from Nielsen, a gambit that it believes will help capture and reflect the executive audience the network's Business Day programming draws in an out-of-home and business locations.  Nielsen, which has come under fire in many quarters for inaccuracies and a slow uptake into the growing world of mobile viewing, doesn't measure out-of-home watching. CNBC believes the switch to Cogent will facilitate proper measurement and underline the success of clients' campaigns aimed at its affluent viewers, wherever they may be.

“Throughout our 25 year history, traditional measurement companies have struggled to capture CNBC’s audience of business executives, decision makers and affluent investors who watch our network from their corner offices, trading floors, five-star hotel rooms, country clubs, restaurants and health clubs,” CNBC president Mark Hoffman said in a release. “We are excited to begin to provide our marketing partners with a more complete understanding of the power and quality of our prestigious audience.”

The switch also follows a year in which CNBC saw its audience from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. decline 13% to 177,000 total viewers from 204,000, and its adults 25-to-54 count decrease 7% to 39,000 from 42,000. The viewership and demo deliveries were the lowest for the finanical network since 1995 and 1992, respectively.

Cogent Reports surveys a broad, representative sample of financial advisors and other investment professionals who represent a key group within CNBC’s broader daytime audience, as well as affluent investors. CNBC said it will guarantee advertiser audience performance against the new Cogent-based metric, due to Nielsen’s limited ability to measure this highly valued out of home audience.

Each month, Cogent Reports continuously collects data via a survey-based measurement system that  trades on a representative sample of the financial advisor and affluent investor community on their media consumption behaviors and preferences and tracks financial brand engagement. Cogent Reports' base extends to 700 investors and 400 financial professionals each month.

“Accurately measuring Business Day’s total audience is one of our top priorities,” Linda Yaccarino, president of advertising sales at NBCUniversal, said in the release. “We all know that TV measurement continues to lag far behind rapidly changing consumer viewing trends and CNBC's viewers have always been under-reported through Nielsen’s in-home-only panel. Having these insights into the affluent and out-of-home viewers to whom CNBC is programming and the same group clients are trying to reach is an important step towards better campaign management and smarter programming decisions."

Nielsen responded thusly: "Nielsen has a long history of working with our clients to provide independent currency-based ratings upon which the industry can transact with confidence. For networks with niche audiences like CNBC, pure age and gender-based ratings are not always the best means against which to sell. These networks have always used alternative measures, which are provided by Nielsen as well as other insights and data providers in the market.”

CNBC will continue to use Nielsen in other dayparts, including primetime.