More holiday shoppers stream TV in a typical week than watch traditional TV

Ninety-eight percent of Gen Z and Millennial holiday shoppers have streamed in the past three months

Today, Roku, Inc. (Nasdaq: ROKU) announced findings from its 2022 Annual Holiday Consumer Shopping study in partnership with The Harris Poll. This year’s survey of nearly 2,000 U.S. adults who plan to purchase gifts finds that holiday shoppers plan to shop earlier, increase spend, and turn to TV streaming for entertainment and information.

“The holidays reveal the shopping trends that will shape the year ahead,” said Asaf Davidov, Head of Ad Measurement and Research at Roku. “Brands that message value, ramp up advertising early, and surprise and delight in streaming TV are set to take the share this season.”

The 2022 survey reveals:

Spending Is Set to Increase Amid Inflation

This holiday season, shoppers plan to spend an average of $993 on holiday gifts, a 6% increase from 2021 ($938). Streamers plan to spend 18% more than non-streamers ($1011 vs. $855, respectively), highlighting the need for marketers to get in front of this critical group.

Consumers Are Shopping Earlier and Saving Ahead for Inflation

More than half of holiday shoppers (56%) either started or will start saving earlier this year to prepare for the holiday season, including 70% of Millennials. One in four (25%) say they have already begun their holiday shopping, a greater percentage than in 2021 (21%), 2020 (21%), and 2019 (22%).

TV Streaming Widens Gap Over Traditional TV

TV streaming, in terms of time spent streaming and subscription numbers, is at its highest for holiday shoppers since this survey began. Holiday shoppers now report spending an average of 10.7 hours per week watching streaming TV (10.5 in 2021; 9.5 in 2020; 8.0 in 2019; and 4.7 in 2018) and nearly 9 in 10 (89%) have streamed in the past three months (86% in 2021 and 85% in 2020). Among Gen Z holiday shoppers, 98% have streamed in the past three months. Additionally, among those holiday shoppers who subscribe to a streaming service, 21% subscribe to more than four (up from 13% in 2021; 8% in 2020; and 2% in 2019).

TV Streaming Ads Drive Product Research and Purchase

As consumers spend more time streaming TV, ads are increasingly influencing brand research and may increase purchases from the TV screen. Holiday shoppers are more likely this year to have looked up brand or product reviews on a search engine after seeing a brand or product advertised on a streaming service or device (39% in 2022 vs. 32% in 2021). Nearly 1 in 3 holiday shoppers (29%) have engaged with an interactive ad experience while streaming a TV show or other video content.

"Now in our fifth year of conducting this research, we see that holiday shoppers are not only spending more time streaming content, but also looking up brand or product reviews after seeing an ad at record rates. This offers brands the opportunity to differentiate and engage with their audiences in ways that simply don't exist on traditional TV," said Connie Xu, Director of Brand Strategy at The Harris Poll.

Methodology

The Roku Holiday Shopper survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Roku between July 27 and August 5, 2022, among 1,999 holiday shoppers (defined as adults ages 18+ in the U.S. who plan to purchase gifts this holiday season). The results from this year’s study are compared to similar studies in prior years (2021: n=2,007; 2020: n=2,008; 2019: n=2,000; 2018: n=2,021). Data were weighted where necessary by education, age, gender, race/ethnicity, region, income, household size, marital status, and employment status to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population.

The full report can be accessed online.

About Roku, Inc.

Roku pioneered streaming to the TV. We connect users to the streaming content they love, enable content publishers to build and monetize large audiences, and provide advertisers with unique capabilities to engage consumers. Roku streaming players and TV-related audio devices are available in the U.S. and in select countries through direct retail sales and licensing arrangements with service operators. Roku TV™ models are available in the U.S. and in select countries through licensing arrangements with TV OEM brands. Roku is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. U.S.A.

This press release contains “forward-looking” statements that are based on our beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to us on the date of this press release. Forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These statements include but are not limited to consumers’ holiday shopping intent; trends in cord cutting and TV consumers‘ shifting away from linear TV to streaming; trends in marketing and advertising; factors affecting such trends and intent; how such trends and factors will develop; and the need for marketers to realign their advertising investments and focus. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. Important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially are detailed from time to time in the reports Roku, Inc. files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2022. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on Roku’s website and are available from Roku without charge.

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