OTTAWA — According to CBC’s latest Media Technology Monitor (MTM) report the number of English-speaking Canadians who subscribe to streaming services now surpass the number who have traditional pay-TV subscriptions.
“The majority of Anglophones continue to subscribe to paid TV services such as cable, satellite or fibre optic TV. However, for the first time, SVOD subscriptions like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have surpassed paid TV subscriptions. They now sit at 72% and 69%, respectively,” reads the news release.
Cable remains the most common type of TV service subscription in the Anglophone market, serving 33% of Anglophone households, according to the MTM report. However, fibre-optic TV is most popular on the coasts and among affluent Anglophone households. One in five Anglophones are what MTM calls “TV My Way” users — while they do not subscribe to a TV service, they consume a large amount of TV content online.
MTM’s TV Distribution report examines the variety of ways Anglophones and Francophones access TV, what products and services they use and how they bundle their services. It also dives deeper into the user profiles for the various TV service types (cable, satellite and IPTV).
In its TV Distribution report for the Francophone market, MTM found that although conventional TV subscriptions have dropped by 15% since 2014, more than three-quarters of French-speaking households still subscribe to them. In comparison, OTT services such as Netflix are gaining popularity — 61% of Francophones subscribe to them, according to MTM.
Cable remains the most popular TV service among Francophones, with 46% of those surveyed subscribing to cable. In comparison, 21% of Francophones use fibre-optic TV, with higher-income households more likely to subscribe to this service. According to MTM, 13% of Francophones are “TV My Way” users who do not subscribe to conventional TV but still watch TV content online.
MTM also released a free MTM Jr. infographic that reveals the language preferred by young people to consume TV content, in both language markets. According to its research, 30% of Anglophone youth (ages 2-17) are watching content in French, and 60% of Francophone youth (2-17) watch content in English. Youth in households with higher incomes and educational levels are most likely to consume content in the other official language, according to the MTM Jr. infographic. Furthermore, Francophone teens (12-17) are most likely to be consuming English content, while the youngest Anglophones (2-11) are most likely to consume French content.
To access the MTM TV Distribution report, please click here.
