Understanding TV streaming: Roku’s VOD Evolution research

The growth of streaming has transformed television, leaving gaps in media owners’ and brands’ understanding of audience behaviour in an increasingly fragmented television environment.

Since 2020 we’ve worked with Roku on a robust exploration of TV viewing behaviours. What began as a first-of-its-kind quantitative study of TV streaming in Canada has grown into an annual research programme spanning Canada, the US, Mexico and the UK.

Based on large quantitative surveys, the study examines how streaming has changed TV viewing, what types of content and TV service viewers use, and how they navigate the dozens of subscription (SVOD), ad-supported (AVOD) and broadcaster-owned (BVOD) streaming platforms available to them. And it does so across very different television ecosystems, from mature cable markets to those where public service broadcasters remain central to viewing.

Over six years, the research has built a rich picture of television consumption in the streaming era, even as streaming has matured and evolved. Just as importantly, it has highlighted the challenges that greater choice can create for audiences, particularly around content discovery and viewing choices.

The findings been presented at industry conferences including The Future of TV Advertising and AdWeek LATAM, and published in a series of whitepapers and press articles across markets, helping to position Roku at the centre of industry discussions around the future of television and streaming.