24% of US adults watch original video programming at least once a month

"A quarter (24%) of the American adult population, an audience of 59 million strong, is turning to original digital video programming at least once a month, according to the “2015 Original Digital Video Study” from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). This marks an uptick of 13 percent over last year’s audience size of 52 million. The in-depth survey of over 1,900 consumers, produced by GfK as an update to the IAB annual original digital video study, also shows that original digital video has the distinct ability to attract the difficult-to-reach 18-34 year-old audience of cord-cutters/cord-nevers – a growing group, now at 17 million.
Released during the second week of the 2015 Digital Content NewFronts, an annual marketplace managed by IAB that connects brands and media buyers with the latest in made-for-digital video opportunities, the report shows that young cord-cutters/nevers are about twice as likely as other adults to view original digital video. Fifty-three percent of cord-cutters and 63 percent of cord-nevers see this type of programming as “very” or “somewhat” important in their decision not to have pay TV. In addition, cord-cutters/nevers are inclined to find the ads shown during this type of programming to be “more interesting” or “fun” (43%), and they are not alone – a third (35%) of the general original digital viewing audience is in agreement about the likability of the ads on this sort of content.
Connected TVs (56%), smartphones (56%), and tablets (48%) are being used to stream original digital video more than twice as often as two years ago, while computer viewing of original digital video (72%) remains steady. Two-thirds (65%) of those who stream original digital video to connected TVs state that they typically watch during primetime (8-11pm) and half (53%) of them report they are doing so more than they did a year ago, largely driven by more (and more interesting) content along with ease of use of connected TVs."

Source:  Press release from the IAB, 6th May 2015

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