Over three quarters (77%) of Polish TV homes now have access to the internet. Furthermore, according to the findings of the latest Establishment Survey by Nielsen Media, 26% of these pay for streaming services, either on a one-off or subscription basis.
Also, 95% of homes opting for pay-TV and also paying for streaming services have no intention of changing their TV offer.
According to the survey, 97% of Polish homes watch TV services, and of these 65% pay for such services (cable, DTH or IPTV). Significantly, 7% watch TV live over the internet. Most homes (81%) have one TV set, with the remainder (19%) having two or more. The second most popular screen is smartphones (73% of homes), followed by PCs/laptops (67%). Although 40% of TV sets are smart TVs, only 27% are actually connected to the internet. Fifteen per cent of TV homes say they watch VOD services, or almost double the 8% that did in 2019.
Commenting on the findings of the survey, Joanna Kopec, senior media research executive at Nielsen Media, said: “The stable and very high number of TV households in Poland is a sign that the TV set is still the basic equipment in the homes of Polish men and women, and the group of people without access to television is not increasing. However, the TV itself as a screen is definitely gaining new functions. We see this clearly in the current wave of research.
“During this strange pandemic year spent at home, the popularity of streaming services has clearly increased, and thus in more and more households the TV is used for purposes other than watching linear TV: VOD services, computer games. The biggest change is the almost twofold increase in the use of the TV to watch VOD services such as: Netflix, HBO GO, Player. In conjunction with the consistently growing percentage of smart TVs connected to the internet in the homes of Polish men and women, we can talk about the TV being disconnected from television. On the other hand, we observe the separation of linear television from the television set. In as much as 7% of households in Poland, viewers declare watching live TV via the internet, regardless of the device. Interestingly, the use of paid streaming services, which applies to more than one in four households with internet access, does not directly translate into plans for using pay-TV. This proves the complementary nature of VOD services, a certain addition extending the video offer, because pay TV is often more than linear TV, it is combined services such as internet access, multifunctional set-top boxes, catch-up TV, so the needs it meets are wider than those implemented by VOD services. Hence, cord-cutting in Poland is unlikely to gain the pace that is taking place in the US in the near future”.