Hub’s annual “Decoding the Default” study, first conducted in 2013, tracks the sources and devices consumers consider their “home base” for television viewing.
Two critically important phenomena are at play in today’s TV environment. First, consumers have access to more sources of TV and more devices for viewing than ever before. Second, amid this explosion of options, consumers are hungry for consolidation: they’re looking for fewer platforms—even a single platform—that will deliver their full array of content in one place.
With TV viewers moving toward a preference for one-stop solutions, it’s especially important to understand which platforms and devices they’re most loyal to. And we’ve found that viewers’ “default”—the service and device they turn on first when they want to watch TV programming—is an especially powerful indicator of loyalty.
“Decoding the Default” takes a deep dive into the platforms consumers consider their TV home base (in general and in specific scenarios), the factors that lead viewers to choose one source as their default over others, and how all of the above has changed over time.
Online survey with 1,933 U.S. consumers age 16-74 who have broadband access at home and watch a minimum of 1 hour of TV per week.