More People Are Streaming TV Shows and Movies on Their Smartphones

The number of smartphone households in the U.S. that have unlimited mobile data plans has modestly climbed in the past year. This increased access to unlimited data has quite possibly paved the way to a rise in regular premium video streaming on mobile phones, per a new report from Hub Entertainment Research. Of the just more than 5,000 U.S. consumers (ages 16-74) surveyed, about 84% say they have a smartphone in their household. And among those smartphone households, 6 in 10 (59%) have an unlimited mobile data plan. This is up from 56% in 2019. At the same time, the percentage of households that are watching premium video on their phones on a weekly basis has markedly increased, from 23% in 2019 to 30% this year. More consumers also report that streaming movies or TV programs is very easy on smartphones (51%) compared to last year (46%). The percentage of consumers who say that the variety of apps/service for streaming premium video is excellent has also increased, from 43% in 2019 to 48% in 2020. Increased mobile viewing could also be influenced by the variety and selection that some of these streaming apps and services provide. Some 53% of consumers surveyed who use Netflix rate its variety of content as excellent. No doubt, part of this sentiment is due to the perceived quality of Netflix’s original content. Disney+ appears to be giving Netflix a run for its money, as the same percentage (53%) of users of this relatively new SVOD rated it as excellent when it comes to variety and selection of content. Not only that, Netflix and Disney+ are also neck and neck when it comes to being rated very highly by their users in value for money (43%). And, slightly more Disney+ users (54%) said their overall satisfaction with the service was very high compared to Netflix users with the same opinion of Netflix (52%). SOURCE: Hub Entertainment Research, 1 Middle Street. Suite 220. Portsmouth, NH 03801