DENVER—The Super Bowl is likely to remain the biggest television event of the year when the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers play in Miami on Feb. 2, but the way that viewers watch the game is changing.
According to the 2020 “Super Bowl Viewership and Consumer Streaming Trends Survey” from digital marketing agency Adtaxi, the number of viewers planning to stream the Super Bowl is the highest ever, coming in at 24%. That continues growth from the last two years, which saw the big game streamed by 8% for Super Bowl LII and 21% last year for Super Bowl LIII.
“The horse is out of the gate. Digital platforms are capturing historic Super Bowl audiences, with TV and cable increasingly losing hefty chunks of audience with each passing year,” said Chris Loretto, executive vice president of Adtaxi. “As streaming services flood the market with competing content, prices and access, the question is not whether Americans will stream big games, but which services will nab their attention.”
Adtaxi dived deeper into some of the potential viewing habits for this year’s Super Bowl. It found that 69% of viewers plan to use more than one platform to engage with Super Bowl content, 78% of which plan to use social media during the game. As far as content, 62% said they are enthusiastic about watching the commercials, 58% for the game and 48% for the halftime show.
The survey also delved into other streaming habits. Adtaxi reports that 68% of its respondents consume the majority of their TV over streaming, while 30% consume all of their TV via streaming. When it comes to ads, 31% said streaming offers the most personally relevant ads, compared to 21% and 12% for cable and traditional TV, respectively.
On the topic of cord-cutting, 26% said they already cancelled a cable or satellite subscription in favor of streaming, while 28% plan to do so in the coming year. For those planning to, 51% said it was to save money, 36% because they want to watch on their own schedule, 35% want the option of binge watching and 27% want to avoid traditional TV commercials.
For more information, visit Adtaxi’s website.
