New Report Reveals Pervasive Ad Blocking and Preference for Video Piracy Over Linear Television Among Millennial Viewers

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Sep 20, 2016) - Following industry reports that indicate millennials spend 54 percent of their TV viewing time streaming content rather than watching traditional live programming, ANATOMY MEDIA, today released the results of its 2016 "Millennials at the Gate" report, which provides an in-depth look at the streaming, ad blocking and piracy behaviors of young (18-24) adults. Based on a comprehensive survey of over 2,500 young millennials, the study shows these three key streaming habits should be of major concern to video publishers.

"Our study looked at young millennial viewing habits. It's important for publishers to understand the behavior of this population because this cohort forms the cutting edge of the change that is disrupting their business models," said Gabriella Mirabelli, CEO, ANATOMY. "As this populations ages they will not adopt regressive technology, but rather their behaviors will migrate up and down the demographic spectrum. Looking at this group's behaviors allows video publishers to look into the future in order to strategize and plan how to meet the viewership challenges -- and potential revenue loss -- they will be facing."

Key millennial viewership trends highlighted in the study include:

• 2 out of 3 young millennials use an ad blocker on a desktop or mobile device with 64 percent indicating that video ad avoidance is driving ad block installation. In practical terms, this means that 2/3 of millennial ad revenue is not being captured.
  
  
• Millennials use ad blockers to assert control over their user experience, reduce their data usage, and get access to their desired content faster.
  
  
• 69 percent of young millennials use at least one method of piracy (download, stream or mobile) and survey results show that as a group their attitude is that piracy is acceptable. In fact, 24 percent of those surveyed believe that both downloading and streaming piracy are legal.
  
  
• 61 percent of young millennials who stream content used a shared password or cable log-in. Extended economic dependence on the childhood home is correlated to sharing passwords, but it is notable that the behavior continues even when the individual no longer shares a physical home with their parent. While streaming services enforce simultaneous stream policies, they do not appear to be tracking unique users and are thus under reporting unique users and missing out on a large amount of subscription revenue.
  
  
• Despite the existence of technology that can prompt users to disable their ad blocking software in order to access content, of the 17 networks tested, only CBS employs this technology.
  
  

Download the complete 2016 "Millenials at the Gate" report here.

ANATOMY:
ANATOMY is a creative advertising agency specializing in entertainment marketing and promotion. ANATOMY activates brands with strategically-minded and thoughtfully-crafted video content, commercials, trailers and brand films. www.anatomymedia.com