The Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) last week announced the results of a study of broadband video users and their viewing habits that it commissioned from The Nielsen Company. The report, entitled "Crossing Over: Understanding Viewer Multi-Screen Migration" and billed as based on a complex, multi-dimensional segmentation analysis that was developed by Nielsen, focuses on a segment of consumers whom it dubs "Extreme Techies" and who it says watch significantly more broadband video than other consumers. According to the report, Extreme Techies, which represent 8% (4.6 million individuals) of the total 18-and-older broadband population, watch up to 91 minutes (1.5 hours) of broadband video per week, compared to the mean of 44 minutes for all broadband users. The study also found that Extreme Techies are "technology innovators," with 38% connecting their online viewing experience to their television sets via Media Center PC's or direct connections. "The research is unique in that it compiled a variety of Nielsen assets to provide marketplace assessments of today's digital media consumers," Christie Kawada, VP of Nielsen's Custom Television group, said in a prepared statement. "Specifically, what they watch on TV, online and on mobile phones, using both attitudinal and behavioral data." Among the new report's findings about Extreme Techies:
- 63% are male, with a mean age of 31 and an average annual income of $67,000.
- 47% are married, and 57% have children under-18 in the home.
- 74% report using their computers to access broadband video content.
- 64% (vs. 30% for the total sample) say that watching TV shows online adds to their regular TV viewing. --60% (vs. 33% for the total sample) say that they typically know what they want to watch online before they sit down at their computer.
- 55% (vs. 23% for the total sample) say that they have found shows online and watched them on TV.
- They enjoy the highest ownership of cross-platform devices used to view TV or movie content, with an average of slightly over four devices (compared to an average of two devices for the total sample).
- They have the highest viewership on devices such as games consoles (46%), mobile phones (33%) and over-the-top set-top boxes (17%).
- 26% say that they plan to add additional channels or services to their existing TV service over the next six months.
- They see themselves as ambitious, adventurous, tech-savvy and spontaneous. According to CTAM and Nielsen, Extreme Techies were one of eight distinct broadband user segments that were identified by study, based on their levels of engagement with video content across TV, online and mobile platforms, the devices they used to consume content, and their motivations for and attitudes toward using multiple platforms. The diagram below shows the eight segments overlaid on a traditional adoption curve, in order to illustrate those leading the trends, those pushing behaviors to the mainstream, and those unlikely to adopt in the near future.
The study consisted of an online quantitative survey that was fielded using Nielsen's proprietary MegaPanel, which the company bills as capturing all online behavior, including Web site visits, streaming behavior and total minutes spent online. Nielsen says that it developed a hierarchical multi-dimensional segmentation model in the course of the study, in order to more comprehensively examine the distribution of digital media consumers within the current three-screen marketplace. The survey took place from January 23rd through February 9th and involved a sample of 750 adults who subscribe to a cable, satellite or IPTV service, and who watch at least five hours of TV per week
