SINGAPORE – Lured by South Korean TV reveals and dealing from house amid the Covid-19 pandemic, extra Singapore customers tuned in to streaming companies for his or her tv repair final yr, on the expense of conventional TV programmes.
A report has discovered that 55 per cent of viewers right here mentioned they watched their favorite reveals on over-the-top (OTT) video streaming companies similar to Netflix and iQiyi final yr, up from 52 per cent the yr earlier than.
However there was a drop for conventional TV, with 36 per cent of respondents remaining loyal viewers final yr, down from 43 per cent in 2020.
The report launched final month by promoting expertise firm The Commerce Desk polled about 400 folks right here aged 16 and above in November final yr.
OTT companies stream professionally produced TV content material on demand over the Web on any gadget. They embody Amazon Prime, Disney+, Mediacorp’s meWatch, Singtel Forged, StarHub Go Max and Viu.
However OTT companies exclude platforms that additionally stream movies created and uploaded by customers, similar to YouTube and Fb.
Conventional TV refers to TV content material broadcast on a hard and fast schedule to TV units, similar to free-to-air reveals from Mediacorp.
The report additionally confirmed that the full variety of hours watched per 30 days on OTT companies jumped 27 per cent final yr from the yr earlier than, to hit multiple billion.
On common, OTT viewers right here spent 2.3 hours a day final yr watching reveals, whereas heavy customers spent six hours doing so. This contrasts with 1.6 hours of normal TV programming watched on common.
In 2020, it was 2.2 hours for OTT and 1.8 hours for conventional TV.
The shift from conventional TV viewing to on-line streaming on OTT companies could possibly be attributable to components similar to an always-on way of life turning into the norm right here, mentioned Ms Jennie Johnson, The Commerce Desk’s senior advertising and marketing director for South-east Asia, India, Australia and New Zealand.
The pandemic has additionally “ushered in an accelerated shift to OTT”, she mentioned. The Commerce Desk mentioned that in South-east Asia, this was due partly to Covid-19 inflicting folks to make money working from home and binge on reveals at their comfort.
Ms Johnson mentioned the report additionally confirmed that viewers desire the pliability of OTT companies for watching reveals on demand. That is particularly so for Technology Z, these aged 16 to 24, who get pleasure from watching reveals outdoors their houses.
In contrast to conventional TV, which will be watched solely on TV units on a hard and fast schedule, OTT reveals will be watched by viewers at any time when they need on quite a lot of units, be they their TV units, laptops, tablets or telephones.