Peter Kafka, Recode:
Netflix says 70 percent of its streams end up on connected TVs instead of phones, tablets or PCs.
And:
Netflix isn’t an outlier, either. Last fall, for instance, YouTube said that its live TV service, which it had pitched as a mobile-first offering, was generating more than half of its streams on TVs.
The Netflix part is not a surprise to me. Netflix grew its brand with DVDs, inexorably tied to the TV. Add to that, the TV is (usually) the biggest screen in the house and set up as a social center, typically with comfortable chairs and couches facing the screen, with a table or two nearby for food/snacks.
But the YouTube live TV bit was a surprise. To me, that really shows the long-lasting pull of the TV, strong enough to pull a service born on your computer, over into the living room.
The Youtube bit doesn’t surprise me at all. The entire narrative of ‘people aren’t watching their TVs, they’re watching on phones” never made sense. The experience of watching a sporting event, a movie or even a 30 minute sitcom on a 5″ screen vs a 50″ screen is vastly different and I never believed that most people were eschewing the latter for the former.
What I *can* believe is that people are watching new kinds of video on their phones/tablets/laptops… short form, 1-10 minute stuff on Facebook, etc. No, no one is going to want to put that cute 1:10 video of a cat on their large screen. But produced content? Yeah, mostly I can see people doing that on a real TV.
She’s in her 40s, has a TV and an Apple TV, has no money issues, and doesn’t watch sports, just movies, and series’ like breaking bad, etc.
I think she likes to watch in bed and while her TV is accessible to her there, she likes the iPad. Not sure how she does sound, hopefully not through the iPad directly.
My guess is it’s a matter of how many people are watching. An iPad or a computer screen, even a 27″ iMac is much tougher for multiple people to watch. A TV, with possibly a high end sound system can be watched by many. My older step-daughter lives on her own and watches almost 100% on an iPad. My wife and I, who both have iPads watch 100% on our TV with surround sound system.
I’m curious… how old is your step-daughter? Does she have a regular TV and if not, why not (i.e. she’s in a dorm in college and money/space is an issue, she has no interest, etc). I just can’t imagine watching something like the Olympics on my iPad vs my TV but I grew up with TV.
I can’t imagine watching anything on a phone sized screen if anything significantly larger is available, for more than minutes, not even podcasty stuff or u toob. I have watched some major tv series episodes on my 10″ pad when quite ill and/or the wife didn’t want to watch those series, but otherwise big screen or bust. It’s encouraging that in spite of the onslaught of watch anywhere advertising, people are defaulting to the appropriate display.
I just hope the current epidemic of “portrait mode” video spewing from the ignorant/lazy/stupid masses ceases soon.