Smart TV Owners Have Money, Still Watch AVOD, Study Finds

Vizio
(Image credit: Vizio)

Smart TV owners have higher-than-average incomes and spend more on subscription VOD, but also watch ad-supported streaming programming.

A study conducted by Vizio and Magid found that 55% of U.S. smart TV owners — age 18-64 — watch ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) programming weekly. Only 39% of viewers who use cheaper devices watch AVOD programming.

Free ad-supported television channels are watched by 53% of smart TV owners, compared to 43% of nonowners.

The smart TV owners also spend $64 a month on SVOD subscriptions, more than the $46 non-smart TV owners spend.

Vizio and Magid said the findings make AVOD a good way to reach those higher-income smart TV households.

“These viewers have chosen streaming as their entertainment format of choice, and the smart connected TV as their medium to do so,” the report said. ”They’re not at all resistant to ads even when they have paid options that would allow them to avoid ads completely. In fact, they’re highly receptive to ad supported content, given the right circumstances.”

The report also notes that AVOD technology enables better ad targeting.

“As AVOD services deliver more relevant ads, viewers find them less intrusive and are therefore more likely to accept them,” the report said.

Magid conducted a quantitative online survey of over 1,600 U.S. streaming TV users aged 18-64, supported by a two-day online community qualitative study of both smart TV and peripheral owners.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.