About 63% of the world’s homes have problems with their WiFi networks, no doubt caused by the rapidly increasing number of mobile devices per home, according to a study by Arris, which makes home network and broadband gear, mainly for broadband/pay TV companies. Arris said the widespread WiFi problems are “a tremendous opportunity for service providers to improve connectivity issues”.
Arris says the numbers, which are in its ‘2015 Arris Consumer Entertainment Index (CEI)’, show “a growing disparity between expectation and reality when it comes to WiFi at home” as well as “the expanding ecosystem of devices and growing popularity of streaming services”.
Other statistics in the report include:
– The world’s average home now has six media consuming devices connected to its WiFi network.
– The average household spends almost 6.5 hours each week streaming a subscription service.
– 81% of those who stream now do so at least weekly, up from 72% last year.
– 73% of people who watch mobile TV at least once a week do it using WiFi.
– 72% of global consumers said having high-speed Internet access in every room of the house is either very important or vitally important.
– 59% of consumers are now watching TV on-the-go.
– Binge-viewing has evolved into a very personal and solitary activity for 60% of binge-viewing consumers.
– 54% said it is vitally important to have high-speed WiFi that works outside of its current range.
Arris, which gets almost all its revenue from service providers, sees these numbers as trends “to solve connectivity issues by giving consumers a high-speed wireless connection where it is needed-all over the home-through better WiFi equipment and training.”
Despite the growth of OTT, the study showed that, as Arris said, “Broadcast TV remains king for now.”
Sandy Howe, SVP of global marketing at Arris, said the study shows four major trends:
- Consumer dependence on WiFi and consequent frustration with its quality
- The concurrent growth and hindrance of mobile TV adoption
- The growing preference for downloading vs. streaming mobile content
- The increasingly personal nature of binge-viewing
Howe said, “All of these trends point to a tremendous opportunity for service providers and programmers to customize their offerings to these new consumer trends and to ensure the quality of the home’s WiFi network, which increasingly is bearing the weight of this evolution in services.”
The research for the “Arris Consumer Entertainment Index” was done for Arris by an independent company, Vanson Bourne, which looked into the media consumption habits of 19,000 consumers in 19 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, UK and USA.
This first ran in Rider Research’s Online Reporter