Fewer than half of HDTV owners subscribe to HD premium programming service packages, according to the findings of an online survey from ABI Research.
The survey asked 1002 consumers in December 2007 about their service providers, what technologies and programming they use and their price sensitivity toward available service offerings. Overall, the survey found consumers were surprisingly unaware of what their equipment can actually do.
The results, presented in a white paper entitled “Pay-TV and the American Consumer,” show:
- About 40 percent said they owned at least one HDTV, but fewer than half of those who do are paying for HD premium service packages, suggesting that more customer education is needed and the existence of unrealized revenue available for the taking;
- Only a few percent use pay-per-view services to watch movies more than once a week, with about 53 percent doing so only a few times a year;
- Sixty-five percent said their favorite online video content is news clips, followed by movie trailers and user-generated content at about 43 percent each;
- A total of 38 percent had home theater systems or game consoles attached to their televisions, nearly as many used DVRs and only a few used network media adaptors or the Slingbox;
- More than 25 percent chose their pay-TV service provider on price; convenience and promotional offers accounted for nearly as many, but programming quality and customer service mattered to only 15 percent to 20 percent.
To read the paper in its entirety, visit http://www.abiresearch.com/whitepaperDL.jsp?id=30.
