THE IMPACT OF STREAMING SERVICES ON THE TRADITIONAL TELEVISION VIEWING HABITS OF GENERATION Z AND MILLENIALS

ABSTRACT This research paper examined the impact of streaming services on the traditional television viewing habits of generation Z and millennials to understand if there are any changes in their viewing habits, the factors that are influencing their viewing preferences and the time they spend on both platforms and if streaming services have affected their engagement and loyalty towards traditional television. The study adopted the uses and gratification theory which talks on how audiences depend on the media to fulfil their needs and desires, utilizing a quantitative approach the researcher created a survey that was shared to the undergraduate and postgraduate population of Nile university with a sample frame of 377. The data gathered from this survey concluded that on-demand content viewing affects respondents’ engagement and loyalty to traditional TV networks for three major reasons: Firstly, most of the respondents are more engaged with the streaming services and are loyal to it than to traditional TV networks. Secondly, most of the respondent’s engagement with traditional TV is lowered by on – demand content viewing. Lastly most of the respondents agree that they could stop watching traditional TV channels if similar content is offered on – demand. However, most of the respondents still accept that traditional TV still delivers unique value that streaming platforms do not have. It is also found that the respondents spent more time with the streaming services than with the traditional TV channels, indicating variations in the time spend with two Platforms. The results also showed that respondents viewing preferences were influenced by four major factors: The first factor being flexibility and convenience that streaming services provide, secondly, provision of better variety of contents by streaming services, thirdly respondents leaning towards trends and social media buzz. The fourth factor which is advertisements on traditional TV channels is a weak factor influencing the respondents’ viewing preferences.