Rabbit ears have been multiplying in Canada’s Anglophone households in recent months, according to a new report from Media Technology Monitor (MTM).
The new study, A Look at Off-Air TV Service, says the number of Anglophones using rabbit ears to pull in over-the-air TV signals has grown from 5% to 8% over the past three years (it was 13% in 2002).
MTM says preliminary analysis of the numbers suggests “TV my way” viewers – people who consume little live TV, but instead rely on online services such as Netflix – are responsible for the increase.
It also says much of the growth is being driven by Anglophones living in large urban centres, as opposed to those in small towns – with proximity to transmitters in those areas providing free access to the majority of channels found in basic cable packages.
Millennial audiences are also a key factor in the growth, with penetration among that particular segment tripling to 13% over the past three years. The report notes both “TV my way” and millennial off-air viewers spend the majority of their TV time – 5.1 and 4.8 hours per week respectively – watching TV via the internet.
Both groups are light viewers of traditional TV – 2.7 hours and 1 hour per week respectively, compared to 11.8 hours per week for the Anglophone population as a whole.
It also says the recent growth in off-air is coming from people who have “cut the cord” on traditional TV service, as opposed to so-called “cord nevers” who never subscribed to a cable package. “It’s not clear, but some of this could be reflection of the lukewarm reception to the ‘skinny basic’ offering,” the study reports.
The research company also posits a theory that Canada could be seeing a rise of “hybrid” online TV viewers who are turning away from cable subscriptions, but maintain off-air as a way to access linear TV.
The MTM results are based on telephone interviews with 4,349 Canadians and is considered accurate within plus or minus 1.5% 19 times out of 20.
