More Than Half Of U.S. Households Subscribe To Streaming Media

Streaming media is becoming increasingly popular in the U.S. with the majority of U.S. households now subscribing to at least one digital video streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu.

Deloitte's 12th annual digital media trends survey shows that some 55 percent of U.S. households now subscribe to paid services.

In less than a decade, the percentage of U.S. households subscribing to a paid streaming video service surged 450 percent. In 2009, only 10 percent of households subscribed.

Some other interesting things the survey reveals include:

Fifty-four percent of streaming video subscribers said they had signed up to watch original content they can't find anywhere else. Other reasons include being able to watch movies and shows at any time, as well as commercial-free content.

Around 48 percent of all U.S. consumers streamed television content every day or weekly in 2017, compared with just 37 percent of consumers in 2016.

Consumers spend on average 38 hours watching video content each week, 15 hours or 39 percent of which is streamed.

Sixteen percent to 22 percent of millennial consumers, as well as those in Generations X and Z, have never subscribed to a pay TV service and are probably unlikely to ever do so.

Among respondents who said they no longer have a pay TV subscription, 27 percent reported they canceled their service within the last year.

Twenty-two percent of all consumers without pay TV say they don't watch enough TV to justify the expense and another 19 percent say they simply cannot afford it.