It’s no secret that millennials and younger audiences are shifting their viewing to online sources. Periodically I see research that helps to quantify just how significant these shifts and emerging preferences are. Yesterday, 2 new research reports hit my radar, one from Adobe and the other from Limelight Networks that shed further light on millennials viewing behavior. Below I have included key highlights from each.

Adobe research (1,500 U.S. respondents):

- 2/3 of viewers under age 35 use SVOD to regularly watch TV

- Over 25% of viewers under age 35 watch TV exclusively online, another 30% say they’ll do so in next 2 years

- Over 40% of viewers over 35 say they don’t ever plan to watch TV exclusively online

- 25% of viewers under 35 say using social media while watching entertainment is critical to their enjoyment of the experience

- Over 50% of viewers between age 13-22 say they prefer to binge watch TV series

- Over 1/3 of viewers over age 35 prefer to watch one episode per week

Limelight research (4,000 respondents from 8 countries: France, Germany, India, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, U.K. and U.S.):

- 24% of millennials spend more than 10 hours each week watch online video

- On average millennials watch 7 hours and 3 minutes of online video per week, up 34% from 2016. This compares with an overall average for all age groups of 5.75 hours per week

- Smartphones and computers dominate millennials’ online viewing, with computers/laptops next, followed by Smart TVs and then tablets

- For male millennials, movies are the most popular type of online video to watch, with gaming/eSports coming in second for 18-25 year-old males and TV shows coming in second for 26-35 year-old males

- For female millennials, TV shows are the clear favorite, with movies coming next for all females 18-35 years-old

- For duration, millennials’ viewed videos 6-30 minutes in length most often, followed by those 31-60 minutes in length

- Home was by far the most popular location for millennials to watch online video, followed by while traveling/commuting and then at school/work

- Gauging millennials’ likelihood to cut the cord, the highest motivation was “if the price continues to increase” (cited by almost half of respondents), followed by “when I can directly subscribe to just the channels I want” (cited by around a quarter of respondents). Around 14-15% of millennials said they would never terminate their pay-TV subscription