Demand for streaming TV services remains strong, Nielsen survey suggests

[February 11, 2020]  By Helen Coster

(Reuters) - Consumers love streamed TV and film and want content providers to keep it coming, a new survey from U.S. data and measurement firm Nielsen suggests.

In a survey it conducted for its latest Total Audience Report, Nielsen found that, even as the number of streaming services rise, 93% of respondents would keep paying for the ones they have or subscribe to others.

Technology and media investors fear the market may be becoming too crowded to accommodate new services. But the Nielsen survey suggests consumers will keep signing up.

In 2019, the U.S. audience could choose from over 646,000 different titles across traditional broadcast TV and streaming platforms, up nearly 10% from 2018, according to Nielsen. Of those, about 9% were only available on a streaming service such as Netflix, Walt Disney Co's Disney+, Apple Inc's Apple TV+ or ViacomCBS's CBS All Access.

Streaming is particularly popular among young adults. Among 18- to 34-year-olds who participated in the Nielsen survey, 96% subscribe to a paid streaming video service, compared to 91% among all consumers of all ages.

Nearly one-third of all respondents and almost half of respondents aged 18 to 34 say they subscribe to three or more paid services - leaving plenty of room for AT&T- owned WarnerMedia's HBO Max and Comcast's Peacock streaming services, which are launching this year.

(Reporting by Helen Coster in New York, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)

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