1.
© Piksel. All Rights Reserved. 1
TV Viewing Habits
The what, where and how
of content discovery and
consumption
Liberated viewing

2.
Executive summary
The broadcast, media and entertainment industry is
evolving at pace — not just in terms of technology
changes, but also viewing behaviour and content
choice. One of the key challenges for broadcasters
and over-the-top (OTT) providers is keeping viewers
engaged. It is not enough to have a wide content
catalogue; rather there are myriad other elements
which affect the customer experience.
With the growth in providers, device choice and
sources of content, it becomes increasingly important
to understand just what viewers actually want, how
they search for what they want and how they actually
watch it when they do find it.
2016 saw the UK enjoying the 80th anniversary
of the birth of television — regular programming
began on November 2nd, 1936 on the BBC1
. Since
that time television has undergone some dramatic
changes, the bulk of which have taken place in the
last few years. It began with the transition to HD,
then popularity of 4K, and that’s not forgetting the
short-lived 3D television. Of course, as the television
set has developed, other devices, from laptops
to smartphones and tablets, are also being used
to “watch TV”. All that is needed is a fast internet
connection and viewers have a wealth of content at
their fingertips, wherever they are.
To understand viewing behaviour, search and
discovery methods, as well as the role of the television,
Piksel commissioned independent survey consultancy
Censuswide to conduct a study amongst consumers
in the UK and US. This report is based on the responses
of online interviews with 2,207 respondents aged 16-
55+, between 16–17 November 2016.
1
www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/birth-of-tv/opening-night

3.
© Piksel. All Rights Reserved. 3
1. Opening scene: TV
Viewing Behaviour
Looking at scheduled television shows and their availability on digital
services, there is a considerable appetite for content to be made
available sooner. Well over half of respondents (62%) in the UK and US
think shows should be available on-demand within a few hours of being
aired. 33% said they would wait 24 hours or more.
This demonstrates that there is a definite need for service providers
on both sides of the Atlantic to ensure that content is available and
discoverable on their digital offerings as soon as possible – the risk of
missing a show when it’s broadcast, and having it spoiled while you’re
waiting for it to appear on a digital service is not something a majority
of users want to happen. Similarly, it demonstrates that users are willing
to engage more with digital services if it has the content they want
whenever they want it.
The internet has changed the
way we think about television;
the way content is produced;
and, indeed, the way in which
we consume this content. In
addition to the increased choice
of programming — drama,
film, documentary, reality,
comedy — as consumers we
also are spoiled when it comes
to provider. For the most part
we choose a combination of
satellite, cable, and OTT to deliver
our content. The challenge for
service providers is to continue to
feed their audiences insatiable
appetite for quality content and
expand their reach in a fast
paced competitive environment -
time is of the essence.

4.
What are consumers watching?
When it comes to types of content, drama and TV series are the most
watched (69%), followed by news and documentary (40%), sitcoms and
soaps (34%), films (33%) and reality TV (27%). The research shows significant
differences between US and UK audiences.
‘Tis the season for
sharing …the remote
The Festive Season is normally a time
spent with family, filled with traditions,
merriment and good food — and
what better way to complement
that than by watching television
together. But one of the main causes
of contention is who chooses what
you watch. While consumers say they
generally watch the same amount of
TV over the holidays (73% agree) as
they do throughout the rest of the year,
our research reveals that one person
in the household is mainly responsible
for handling the remote control — 63%
of respondents said they were the
ones that pushed the buttons, with
only 26% saying they took it in turns.
However, during the holidays, this
attitude relaxes slightly, with turn taking
increasing to 46% and one-person
dominance decreasing to almost half.
Christmas viewing, according to
respondents, is mostly likely to be live
television watched with family and
friends for about three hours a day.
Most watched content
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Drama and TV
series
News and
documentaries
Sitcoms and
soaps
Films Reality TV
US UK

5.
© Piksel. All Rights Reserved. 5
2. The Main Act:
Customer Experience
According to our research, 35% of viewers base their decisions
on adverts on TV, radio and online. There is a 15 point disparity
between using the recommendations made by content providers
though, with US audiences far more likely to find content through
that route than UK viewers. Similarly, US viewers are more likely
to consider suggestions from their friends. Both of these infer that
outside of advertisements, UK viewers are far more solitary and
independent in finding what to watch.
Considering the weight that viewers give their friends’ suggestions,
it is worth noting that there is an opportunity here for broadcasters
and OTT providers to capitalise on the social media bandwagon
and incorporate more elements into the recommendation process
— after all, word of mouth is a powerful medium and could even
be used to attract new viewers.
Despite a greater reliance on content provider recommendations
in the US, respondents believe that the accuracy suggestions are
not as good as they could be. Four in every ten say that these
recommendations are hit and miss — this figure is 34% in the UK
and 48% in the US, most likely due to the increased usage of this
recommendations route. Only 16% of the sample believes that
recommendations are consistently very good, which signals a
clear opportunity for broadcasters and OTT providers to improve
suggestions, enhance engagement levels and the customer
experience and, ultimately, improve their revenue.
It’s clear that both for linear and digital services, search and
discovery needs to improve, as the issue of finding the right
content is shared across both traditional and modern means of
finding what to watch. With both areas having the same issue, a
unified approach to search and discovery makes most sense.
A critical influencing factor of
customer experience is search and
discovery — how do viewers search
for and ultimately find what they
want to watch? The days of printed TV
guides are long gone, and some now
even believe the EPG is also a relic of
the past. So just how do viewers find
good content?
Finding something to watch
Adverts Content
provider
recommendations
Suggestions
from
friends
0%5%10%15%20%25%30%35%40%
US UK

6.
How long do you search for content?
Search and discovery
As a consumer, we’ve all been there — facing the television with an evening ahead of us, but struggling in vain to
find something good to watch. From a broadcaster and content provider point of view, making sure audiences can
find engaging programming is absolutely essential. Why? Because, according to our research, if nothing appropriate
is found the majority (62%) will either change the channel or switch to a different provider, with the remaining 38%
giving up and switching off. This further demonstrates the clear need for both linear and digital providers to invest more
resources into improving the process and making it easier for viewers to find good content — after all, as the research
shows, viewers aren’t tied to one channel or provider and will switftly move on if they can’t find what they want to
watch – this is nothing but a lost revenue opportunity.
It is not only just the act of changing the channel or service that is worrying for content providers; our research
also found that almost one quarter of viewers (23%) said finding something good to watch was so important that it
influenced their choice of service provider. This is a clear flag – better search and discovery makes a service more
attractive to customers. Almost half of the sample (49%) said finding something good was somewhat important and,
interestingly, 16% said it wasn’t important how long it took, just as long as they found something good.
When asked about specific search behaviour, consumers said they largely searched via genre 39% — this figure was
particularly high in the US at 47%. Other search methods included using keywords (36% global average and 42% by US
audiences), and names of actors, (20% by US audiences).
It was the 25-34 year-old age group stood out, with more respondents in this category using these methods than any
other age group. The 16-24 year-old category, also showed a higher than average use of these search behaviours.
Demonstrating that the younger generation are more at ease with advancing technologies and techniques.
Less than 10 mins
10 - 20 mins
21 - 30 mins
30 - 60 mins
As long as it takesSo, typically, how long
do viewers search
for something? On
average, they spend
16 minutes searching,
with viewers in the
16-24 age group
spending 20 minutes.

7.
© Piksel. All Rights Reserved. 7
Are these search capabilities enough to ensure audiences are finding,
accessing and consuming quality content? For broadcasters and
content providers there exists an opportunity to streamline search and
discovery and make it more effective. Particularly as half of respondents
in the survey said they were at a loss as to how this process could be
improved in its current state. In fact, 60% of UK viewers and 40% of US
viewers feel this way.
It seems this issue can be solved, however, by opening viewers eyes to
new types of search criteria. While many of them can’t see how search
could be improved, when presented with new alternatives, viewers see
new potential for search. Searching according to content theme was
most popular, with 31% of global respondents favouring this method,
while, searching according to emotion (14%), personality types of
characters (14%) and actions (10%) also proved popular. Once again,
respondents in the 25-34 age category showed the biggest appetite for
these options, with 51% saying they would like to search according to
specific themes, such as first love or teenage angst, 24% saying searching
by emotion, and 19% saying character personality options may help
make the content discovery process better.
This signals the need for both broadcasters and OTT providers to invest
more time and understanding in the technologies available to them
to improve search and discovery, incorporating the ability to search
using new methods, and using techniques like machine learning to
automatically improve the quality of content surfaced to users. This is an
issue facing both sides of the content spectrum, linear and digital, so a
unified approach would be the optimal solution.
About Piksel Fuse
Metadata™
Broadcasters, multi-channel video
programming distributors (MVPDs)
and OTT providers are continuously
searching for ways to improve
the customer experience and,
by extension, increase viewer
engagement. One of the key
challenges is content search and
discovery. With viewers spending
countless minutes each day just
trying to find something to watch and
many saying that they would switch
to new services that make search
and discovery better, making this
search process seamless can be a
key differentiator for companies in this
space. So just how can they capitalise
on this? Through the use of metadata.
Piksel Fuse Metadata enables services
to consolidate, enrich and augment
metadata automatically across both
broadcast and OTT workflows by using
natural language processing, semantic
search, image analysis and machine-
learning technologies to create
proprietary metadata on a scene-by-
scene basis.
Built on the Piksel Palette™ — a
cloud-based, modular architecture
— Fuse Metadata has the potential
to make discovery more targeted
and effective, while creating new
monetisation opportunities and even
attract new customers.
Search behaviour
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Genre Keywords Actors
Global average US UK 16 - 24 year olds 25 - 34 year olds

8.
There is little doubt that there
is a world of opportunity for
broadcasters and content providers
to capitalise on when it comes to
creating and distributing quality
content. Demand for ‘good TV’
has never been greater and,
indeed, the demand from viewers
is reaching an all-time high. For
the consumer, however, despite
the ability to consume content on
smartphone, tablet, laptop or TV, the
overriding issue is how to find that
content.
While many may follow the
recommendations of their
content providers or friends,
these suggestions are not always
completely accurate or relevant
to a user’s tastes. Added to that,
audiences are using methods other
than recommendations, namely
search to find something to watch.
For both broadcasters and digital
providers then, the challenge to
deliver accurate and intuitive
search and recommendation results
in order to continue and increase
levels of audience satisfaction
and engagement. This falls to the
ever-growing realm of customer
experience that looks at the issues
of search and discovery, accuracy
of recommendations and more.
A 2015 survey conducted by ROVI
reflected similar findings around
search times, recommendations
and the customer experience —
which demonstrates the beginning
of a pattern of issues and demands
from an audience point of view. For
broadcasters and digital providers,
it is, now more than ever, imperative
that this feedback be heeded,
especially as the wealth of content
and the diversity of providers
continues to increase, intensifying
the race for viewers.
3. Closing sequence:
Conclusion

9.
© Piksel. All Rights Reserved. 9
4. The credits:
About Piksel
Piksel has been building successful online video businesses for over a decade. Our offering of professional and
managed services is underpinned by the Piksel Palette’s SaaS-based infrastructure. It’s this recipe, combined with our
commitment to creating mutually beneficial partnerships, that enables our media and entertainment clients to prosper
in today’s video market.
Piksel’s unrivalled expertise is in designing, building and managing online video solutions for the likes of AT&T, Sky,
Channel 4, Liberty Global, Mediaset, OSN and Transavia. Headquartered in York, Piksel offices can be found throughout
Europe and the Americas.

10.
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services we provide.
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