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In 2015, online video was becoming a regular part of television-style viewing: audiences watched digital originals on both televisions and phones, subscription users watched multiple shows in a week, and some U.S. households left cable or satellite because of cost or other ways to get the programs they wanted. The shift was real, but the evidence describes particular U.S. populations and periods—not a universal move away from television.
Original digital programming found a sizable audience
An Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) survey found that 24% of American adults—an estimated 59 million people—watched original digital video at least monthly in 2015. That estimate was 13% higher than the prior year’s 52 million. The study was fielded April 7–14, 2015; it included 856 full interviews with adults who watched online video monthly.
The appeal was especially pronounced among younger adults without pay TV. In the IAB survey, cord cutters and cord-nevers aged 18–34 were about twice as likely as other adults to watch original digital video. Among surveyed cord cutters, 53% said this programming mattered somewhat or very much to their decision not to have pay TV; among cord-nevers, 63% said the same. These answers show an association and viewers’ reported reasons, not proof that digital originals alone caused people to cancel or avoid cable. IAB’s 2015 findings
People watched across TVs, phones, tablets, and computers
Online video in 2015 was not limited to desktop screens. Among the IAB-surveyed viewers of original digital video, 72% used computers, 56% connected TVs, 56% smartphones, and 48% tablets. These measures overlap: respondents could use more than one device. IAB also reported that connected-TV, smartphone, and tablet use for this programming was more than twice as frequent as two years earlier.
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GfK separately reported that the share of regular U.S. Netflix users watching on TVs rose from 36% to 47% over three years, while mobile use rose from 10% to 24%. These figures come from a different survey and measure Netflix use among regular users, so they should not be combined with IAB’s device percentages as if they described one audience or a single trend line. GfK’s October 2015 report
Cord cutting was visible, but pay TV remained common
Pew Research Center’s national telephone survey of 2,001 U.S. adults, conducted June 10–July 12, 2015, found that 76% reported cable or satellite service at home. Fifteen percent had once subscribed but no longer did, while 9% said they had never subscribed. Among adults aged 18–29, 19% were cord cutters and 16% had never subscribed. The findings show a meaningful shift, particularly among younger adults, but not the disappearance of pay TV. Pew’s Home Broadband 2015 report
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Cost and alternatives both figured in decisions
Among U.S. adults without cable or satellite, 71% said the service cost too much, and 64% said they could get the content they wanted elsewhere through an antenna, the internet, or streaming. Those are reasons reported by people without pay TV; they do not establish that streaming by itself caused every cancellation. An antenna, online video, and subscription streaming were distinct ways to access programming, and households could use more than one.
Subscription streaming supported frequent and flexible viewing
GfK’s 2015 report said regular U.S. Netflix users watched an average of 10 television shows and four movies a week on the service. A quarter of those regular users said they binge-watched three or more programs in one sitting often or all the time. Twenty-four percent had watched Netflix on a mobile device in the previous month. These figures describe regular users, not all U.S. viewers.
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The appeal was not simply a catalog delivered over the internet. On-demand access let viewers choose when to watch and, for some, watch several episodes in one sitting rather than follow a traditional broadcast schedule. GfK’s David Tice described Netflix as “a TV ecosystem unto itself, and now an established force in the total TV marketplace.” The 2015 over-the-top landscape also included Amazon Prime and Hulu subscription services, delivery systems such as Roku and Apple TV, and TV Everywhere services offered by cable and satellite providers. Those examples illustrate different ways of delivering or accessing video; the available figures do not provide a like-for-like comparison of their prices, catalogs, or quality.
Online video competed for television attention
Nielsen’s September 2015 case study compared December 2013 with December 2014 for U.S. adults aged 18–49. It reported that time spent watching television fell almost 10% while YouTube viewing time rose 44%. Nielsen selected December because it is traditionally a high-TV-viewing month. This is evidence of changing viewing time in one U.S. age group across two December periods, not a measurement of all viewers or a universal decline in television. Nielsen’s case study
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Word of mouth and social platforms helped viewers discover digital video
For original digital programming in the IAB survey, word of mouth was the most common discovery route, cited by 53%; social-media sites were cited by 42%, up from 24% in 2013. In addition, 55% of regular viewers of made-for-digital programming said they had more social-media interactions than they did while watching traditional TV. These results apply to the surveyed audience for original digital programming, rather than to every online-video viewer. They suggest that discovery and conversation were part of the viewing experience, not just what happened after a viewer pressed play.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the 2015 evidence adds up to
The strongest picture is of a widening, increasingly flexible U.S. video landscape: original digital programs had a substantial monthly audience; viewing crossed connected TVs and mobile devices; regular Netflix users watched frequently, including in multi-program sessions; and cost and alternative access were common reasons people gave for not having pay TV. Nielsen’s age-specific comparison also showed YouTube gaining viewing time as television viewing time fell over the periods measured. The studies used different methods, dates, and populations, so their percentages describe separate pieces of that change rather than one harmonized measure of a single national migration.
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Keeping a YouTube channel live with pre-recorded video
For creators looking to turn an uploaded recording or playlist into a continuous YouTube stream, StreamNeo is a cloud option rather than a measure of the historical 2015 trends. Upload a recording or build a playlist, add your YouTube stream key once, and go live; the cloud service loops the uploaded videos, so a computer and home connection do not need to stay on. It is for uploaded video, not a live camera feed, and it streams to YouTube.
Or let it run in the cloud
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