A new study of 2,000 U.S. adults with access to streaming services has found that 42% of them have either shared or received passwords since COVID-19 social distancing started in mid-March. 

The survey, conducted by OnePoll on behalf of AVOD service Tubi, found that sharing between romantic partners is most common, with 54% of password sharers identifying that relationship as one they swap digits with. “Friend” (53%) and “sibling” (42%) were also popular categories. 

In fact, mere “acquaintance” registered ninth on the list of most popular people to share a password with (17%).

A rep for the PR firm that presented the study, SWNS Media Group, said that the survey simply asked consumers if they've shared their password. It's hard to tell if some respondents confused illegal sharing (i.e. sharing with folks outside the home) with legal sharing conducted with partners, family members and hangers-on living in the their house and covered under terms of their service agreement.  

In any event, the survey seems to imply that illegal sharing is high right now. 

All of this password sharing is coming as viewers, stuck at home with their families and roommates, stream on average eight hours of video a day, according to the survey. 

Consumers aren’t comfortable with their data being collected by smart TVs, according to a survey conducted by Videa, Cox Media’s automated ad platform.

The survey found that 48% of consumers said they were somewhat, mostly or completely uncomfortable with advertisers collecting smart TV data.

Related: Vizio Settles Smart TV Data Collection Complaint

Only 39% said they are somewhat, mostly or completely comfortable with their data being collected by advertisers. The answer most given, at 21% of respondents, was that they were completely uncomfortable with the data collection.

Related: When Smart TVs Get Too Personal, What's the MSO Role?

The study also asked about cord-cutting. Consumers surveyed said they would miss live programming or specific programs if they gave up their pay TV subscriptions. They also said they would miss news channels, weather, sports, channel-surfing and the variety they now get.

In these divisive times, the survey also found that the majority (61%) of respondents said they had some or a lot of trust in the information they get from local news organizations.

A survey last year bythe Pew Research Center found that 22% of the adults it surveyed had a lot of trust in local news, and that another 60% had some trust, for a total of 82%. That compared to 18% who had a lot of trust in national news organizations and 59% who had some trust. Social media garnered only 4% of respondents who said they had a lot of trust, and 30% had some trust.

Related: Pew: Older Demos Drive Mobile News Growth

Videa’s survey found that 59% of the respondents said they get their local news from TV, compared with 38% via social media, 36% from print and 36% from local radio.

Among viewers who said they had a clear preference, 62% said they trusted local news over national news, while 38% said they trusted national news more.

Of those trusting local news, 31% said they trust it because there is less bias or no political agenda, the survey found.

Videa's survey was conducted online with 1,145 adults responding between March 21 and March 22. The figures have been weighted to make they representative of all U.S. adults.

A new study on the viewing habits of millennials has yielded the same results that most industry observers already know and fear: 18-to-34-year-olds are very comfortable accessing video content in a cord-free world.

Market research company GfK MRI’s Survey of the American Consumer shows that one-third of millennials either have never paid for a cable, satellite or fiber-optic TV service or have cut the cord after initially subscribing to cable, nearly twice the 16% of baby boomers who are cord-cutters or cord-nevers.

OTT services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon will most likely welcome the news that a sizable portion of millennials aren’t in the habit of paying a monthly cable bill, thinking that those eyeballs — and subscription fees — will migrate to streaming services. Indeed, the GfK MRI survey reported that untethered millennials spend 65% of their viewing time streaming content via a TV set or other device.

But as the old axiom goes, be careful what you wish for. The same millennials who don’t want to pay for cable may also find ways to not pay for the streaming SVOD services they watch.

A spring 2016 IBM Cloud Video survey reported that nearly half of millennials have used another person’s password to access an online video platform like Sling TV or Netflix, while 42% said they’ve shared their own personal password with a family member. While the numbers may not be catastrophic for the streaming services — Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said during CES that he has no problems with the service’s subscribers sharing their passwords — OTT players shouldn’t ignore the behavior either.

With most streaming services providing few limits on the number of users per account, a generation that has no experience with paying for video content on any platform could be emerging — one both cable distributors and OTT services will depend on for revenue in the near future.

History and A&E networks were the favorite cable networks for non-fiction producers to work with, according to a new survey from the Nonfiction Producers Association (NPA) released Tuesday.

The survey, which polled both NPA members and non-members from 41 production companies, tallied results from six production indicators, including preferences for pitching, executive creativity, development process, business affairs process, production editorial oversight, and production management, according to the NPA.

History and A&E topped the chart in most of the categories, while Discovery Channel, Lifetime, ID, HGTV or Travel ranked most often in third and fourth place across the categories, according to the organization.  

While the NPA said that factors such as volume of programming offered could have skewed the results more favorably to the top networks in the survey, he added that overall the survey was designed to help better the relationship between producers and networks.

“For many months, the NPA has been meeting with individual networks to further the producer-network dialog and suggest ways to improve processes,” said Ford. “This survey, which is part of that effort, is meant to be a snapshot, from a producer’s point of view, of their current business climate, and we intentionally kept it contained to the six basic areas they say most influence the production experience.

In keeping with the season, a new study by market research firms FocusVision and Zanthus should strike fear into traditional pay TV service providers, claiming that more than 40% of cable and satellite TV subscribers are planning to cut back on or sever their pay TV subscriptions.

In the study, which surveyed more than 1,000 customers, 41% of respondents said they were planning to cut back or drop their pay TV service, compared to just 16% of over-the-top customers. OTT customers of services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video also were more likely to recommend their service than pay TV customers, and 59% of OTT customers said they were satisfied with their service, compared to just 27% of pay TV customers.

The study found that U.S. consumers are about as likely to use over-the-top providers (75%), as they are pay TV (76%) while 51% use both. Use of OTT providers is higher among millennials with 84% of respondents under 34 years old subscribing to an OTT provider compared to 74% of 35 -44 year olds and 60% of 45-54 year olds. Pay TV subscribers still watch more TV than their OTT counterparts – 18 hours per week vs. 11 hours for OTT – according to the study.

The study found that OTT providers have a stronger brand affinity than pay TV – 62% of OTT subscribers said they were likely to recommend the service vs. 43% of pay TV customers.

Pay TV also scored poorly on customer satisfaction -- 27% of pay TV customers said they were satisfied with value and 41% were satisfied with customer care. That compares to 59% of OTT customers satisfied with value and 62% with customer care.

With Election Day drawing near (Nov. 1), the Video Advertising Bureau has released a report that shows undecided voters in the last days before going to the polls are influenced more by TV than by other media.

Televised debates and political TV shows were cited by 65% of respondents as their primary sources for political information about national races, according to a VAB survey of undecided voters.

More than 40% of undecided voters have gone online to research a candidate or issue after seeing a political ad on TV, the survey found. Only 21% said they had researched a candidate after viewing an ad on social media, and 17% said they had followed up after someone they knew “liked” a candidate on Facebook.

More than three quarters of respondents (79%) said TV was the medium where a political ad was most likely to get their attention, in both national and local races.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

If your buddy says that he saw the most recent episode of HBO’s Westworld, there’s a good chance he’s lying, according to a new Hulu survey.

Nearly half of 18 to 49 year olds (46%) recently surveyed by Hulu lied about being caught up on a particular TV series, according to research released Friday by the streaming service. Men in particular tend to lie more than women – 62% of men in the demo admitted to fibbing about watching a show, while only 32% of women admit to the behavior.

Millennials in particular are major fabricators, with more than half (55%) admitted to having lied about watching a TV show, according to Hulu.

Of course, there’s no real crime in lying about watching a TV show – in fact it’s virtually impossible to stay current with the more than 400 scripted series currently on cable, broadcast television and subscription VOD channels.

What the survey does highlight is the power that television shows still hold in the pantheon of popular culture. A good number of people are willing to lie about watching a show just to a part of the conversation about TV, according to Hulu.

Not missing a chance to promote its lineup of original and off-network series, Hulu commissioned The Mindy Project star Mindy Kaling to provide some humorous advice to those who get busted lying about watching the latest episode of a popular series. Check out the clip below:

A study on so-called peak TV and streaming reveals just how elevated a perch television is enjoying in pop culture.

Fully 72% of respondents  to a survey by Miner & Co. said they choose TV shows over movies these days, while 67% said they are streaming their favorite TV shows at the expense of reading. Furthermore, 85% said they have a summer streaming list, while 76% have a summer reading list.

Miner & Co. Studios surveyed 801 TV viewers between the ages of 18 and 59.

"For the past few years, streaming has tended to drown out conversations about broadcast and cable, and it continues to gain strength as a preferred platform for viewing,” said Robert Minor, president, Miner & Co. Studios. “But the investment in quality scripted across the board has, at least for now, captured viewers’ attention across all options – broadcast, cable and streaming. The choice, convenience and control of streaming will continue to hold very high appeal but content is key – especially in attracting and retaining viewers.”

Not surprisingly, streaming and cable scored the highest for delivering great television; perhaps more surprising is that broadcast, which goes largely ignored at the awards events, was a very close runner up. Some 87% of respondents said streaming services, such as Netflix and Amazon, are “very” or “somewhat” reliable sources for great television. Cable too had 87%, though the subset of premium cable scored 83%. Broadcast networks came in at 86%.

Among respondents, 77% said there’s no such thing as too much good TV.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association's rebranding of its annual show to "Internet" and "television" was clearly the right way to go if a new survey has it right.

According to just-released findings, 80% of video streamers subscribe to at least one streaming service in addition to, or instead of, a pay TV service from a cable, satellite or IPTV company.

The survey, commissioned by CSG International, which helps companies set up and cash in on online distribution, also found that 79% of streamers primarily stream to their TV sets.

Among millennials, more than half spend more time watching Internet video on their TVs than traditional TV programming.

Almost three-quarters (72%) said sports programming is the most important to stream.

"[S]treaming services with the highest subscription rates offer original content and sports content," the study found. "To align with these trends, the ability to offer new skinny bundles and innovative OTT-like services will become increasingly important for pay TV providers."

Streamers said they are watching more than 26 hours of online television each week, with half of that on services including Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime.

The report concludes the way to get a bigger piece of that online video action is "not by an intensifying price war, but by offering more options for packaging and pricing the specific content that streamers want."

"Personalize the bundle," CSG said. "Provide a user experience on par with the most popular competitors, making content transportable across devices and providing enhanced features like recommendations and search, not only for a single service but across as many distinct services through partnerships wherever possible.

"Offer aggregated billing, discounting and payment options to the all-important subscribers of more than one service or type of content," the report advised.

Millennials see decreasing value in traditional pay services, the survey found, and 20% said they planned to switch, downgrade or disconnect their pay services in the next six months.

They also are the biggest commercial skippers (via bathroom breaks and snack runs in particular). "Among those 18-24, 43% always or often avoid commercials, compared to 35% of the general population," the study said

In a finding that could buoy, at least slightly, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler's push for uniting video services in a single access device, 48% said they would "greatly value" centralized search across all their paid subscriptions, regardless of provider. (But cable operators note they are already launching apps that can reside side-by-side with other online services on, say, a Roku platform, just not disaggregated program streams and data, as the chairman has proposed.)

The survey was conducted in January among 1,900 randomly chosen adult broadband users who stream video -- short- or long-form, free or paid service -- on one or more connected devices.

CSG clients include Charter Communications, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Dish Network, ESPN and Verizon.

Women in Cable Telecommunications and the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications are once again partnering for their biennial employment survey, which measures gender and ethnic diversity in the cable industry.

This valuable research is unique to cable and has significantly raised awareness about the importance of workforce diversity while providing empirical data to inform key strategic decisions. As our consumer and employee base becomes increasingly diverse, the industry’s ability to attract and retain the best possible talent is ever more critical to profitability and sustainability. And aren’t profitability and sustainability among your primary business goals? If so, then you should take part in the survey.

The survey is being administered by Mercer, a global leader in talent development. And because the Walter Kaitz Foundation is generously underwriting the cost, there is no charge for companies to participate. In exchange, participants will receive a wealth of information — all confidential — to help inform their diversity and inclusion tactics. The investment companies will make is the staff time required to complete the survey, but there is much to be gained. Each participant will receive a custom report from Mercer to benchmark its performance.

As part of this confidential diversity scorecard, Mercer will produce benchmarks reflecting the demographics of the key labor markets in which participants operate. In addition, Mercer will provide an Internal Labor Market (ILM) map showing the flow of women and people of color throughout each organization and projections of how the diversity make-up at management levels can be expected to change over the next five years. Also, for the first time, Mercer representatives will be available post-survey for 60-minute private review sessions to explain findings from the confidential scorecards.

Created in 2003, WICT’s PAR Initiative has evolved into a comprehensive advocacy program that examines the status of women in cable based on three critical criteria success: pay equity, advancement opportunities and resources for work/life integration. Companies continue to use the valuable collective research and resources from WICT’s PAR Initiative to set goals, measure progress and adopt effective policies and programs.

NAMIC’s AIM (Advancement Investment Measurement) is the latest iteration of the association’s employment survey launched in 1999.  The survey, which provides rich data central to understanding the state of multi-ethnic diversity in the cable telecommunications industry, is a key resource for sustaining the pipeline of professionals of color. NAMIC’s flagship education initiatives, the Executive Leadership Development Program and the Leadership Seminar, are key outgrowths of the employment research. 

The survey opened on Jan. 29; data will be collected until March 20. NAMIC and WICT will reveal the results of the survey in a joint Town Hall Meeting on Sept. 29 as part of Diversity Week in New York. At that point, we will know if we have made progress since the last survey in 2013.

We urge all MSOs, programmers and vendors to take part. After all, aren’t you striving to increase profitability and ensure the long-term health of your company?

Maria E. Brennan is president and CEO of WICT. Eglon E. Simons is president and CEO of NAMIC.

A national survey released last week revealed that most Americans don’t have a clue what “net neutrality” means.

If true (and it is, even among TV executives) that doesn’t bode well for smooth assimilation into the regulatory construct of new FCC rules governing the Internet.

The phone survey by Hart Research Associates, with 800 adults 18 and over, echoes what I’ve gleaned talking to TV executives: Nearly three out of four (74%) Americans are unfamiliar with the term “net neutrality” and what it actually means.

In its simplest form, “net neutrality” means that cable and phone companies, which own the main plumbing of the Internet, should not block content or discriminate and should manage their networks transparently.

Beyond that, anyone trying to describe it to a lay person will see listeners zone out within seconds, typically accompanied by a nictitating membrane covering the eyes and slow, polite nods.

Now, the debate has evolved into a such a confusing cacophony of strident free-speech declarations and network- management business-speak that it’s little wonder most consumers are stumped. The term itself has been intentionally co-opted by giant corporations on both sides of the debate to the point where it means whatever its supporters want it to mean — which would require a mind reader with a law degree to divine, and maybe not even then.

That explains, in part, why 73% of Americans want greater disclosure of the details of the FCC’s proposal to regulate the Internet. FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has proposed regulating the Internet like a utility under Title II of the Communications Act to ensure his — and President Obama’s — vision of net neutrality.

But only one in three Americans, the survey found, thinks that regulating the Internet like telephone service will be helpful. It’s a fact that belies the confusion: Big free-speech fans — some of the very “Save the Internet!” viewers roused by comedian John Oliver’s acerbically funny dissection of Big Cable on his HBO series Last Week Tonight — really don’t trust big government to do the job either.

Is broadband so essential that the government should be more active in regulating a flourishing, privately capitalized Internet?

Wheeler seems to think that is just the role the FCC needs, given his view of ISPs as the potentially competition-crushing link in the virtuous cycle of edge to net to consumer.

He may not feel it is appropriate to make details of the new rules public before the coming vote, but he should do so afterward, and ASAP.