Video viewing near saturation point in Hong Kong: OMG

Hong Kong people are watching about as much video as they can, with a weekly total viewing time of 67 hours nearing the "saturation point", according to a new report from Omnicom Media Group Hong Kong.

That finding is among the data points from the fifth wave of OMG's Hong Kong Video Content Viewing Landscape study, done in partnership with Toluna. The survey, done in June and July, sampled more than 1000 consumers aged 18 to 59 who had watched any TV or video over the prior seven days.

According to the report, viewing time on digital platforms remains high (23 hours per week), while it has dropped slightly for free TV (to 21.4 hours per week) from a high in the last wave of the study. This viewing time has shifted to social media, where viewing time rose to 18.5 hours per week. 

Among digital platforms, YouTube experienced a decrease in viewership, but an increase in viewing time.

In the OTT arena, both MyTV Super and Netflix scored penetration of 30% and similar viewing-time figures (3.2 hours for MyTV Super and 3.5 hours for Netflix).

Netflix notched a "remarkable" viewing-time increase, from 2.4 to 3.5 hours per week, to go along with its siginificant subscription growth. More than a quarter of respondents have subscribed to OTTs in the past six months, with Covid-19 (51%) and increased interest in foreign content (57%) being cited as the main reasons.

Meanwhile, livestreams have also gained in popularity, with 64% saying they had watched one in the last seven days. Facebook is the top streaming channel for people aged 35 to 44, whereas YouTube and Instagram are favoured by those under 34.

In the free over-the-air TV space, both TVB and ViuTV saw a dip in both viewership and viewing time, while RTHK and HK OpenTV gained viewership.