41% Of Consumers Age 65-69 Watch Online Video Every Week

A recent study conducted by Ericsson’s Consumerlab has found that our elders aren’t all “get off my lawn” types when it comes to online video. According to the study’s findings, 41% of respondents age 65-69 watch more than one piece of streaming content each week.

Before we unpack this result, keep in mind that we must take it with a Khewra-sized grain of salt. The 41% figure includes consumers who time-shift content on their TVs, a service much more closely related to traditional TV viewing than online streaming. Take out services like Comcast Xfinity (the 4th most popular on-demand destination among respondents) and our percentage of tech-savvy old people will surely drop. In addition, the survey was conducted online, so elders who are utterly clueless about the Internet (which, in case you’ve never tried to teach your grandma how to play Scrabble on Facebook, is a lot of them) weren’t accounted for.

Even accounting for all of those sampling biases, the 41% figure still indicates that many sexagenarians are relying on services like Netflix and Hulu. The study also found several other encouraging results: 25% of respondents watch content on two screens at once, UGC content is becoming a trusted source of information for many consumers, and the rise of attractive legal streaming options in the US has caused the popularity of file sharing to drop.

As with other paradigms, online video can only complete its takeover of the TV landscape once older generations are replaced by early adopters. Even so, it’s encouraging to see that even TV’s strongest demographic is looking to watch its favorite shows on its own schedule.