The Digital Video Series: Gen X | Infographic

This week, we're looking at digital video viewers. Each day, we focus on a different demographic to better understand how various age groups engage with video. Previously, we looked at kids and teens, as well as millennials. Next up: Gen Xers.

Just like their younger cohorts, Gen Xers are shifting their viewing habits from traditional TV to digital video.

This year, we estimate that 51.8 million US Gen Xers—or more than than three-quarters of the Gen X population—will watch digital video at least once a month. And that figure will continue to grow steadily until the end of the forecasting period.

In contrast, TV viewing habits—which are still significant among this generation—are declining. Last year, 60.2 million Gen Xers in the US watched live or recorded video on a television set at least monthly. This year, 58.8 million Gen Xers have done so, and we expect even fewer to do so (57.8 million) next year.

"Gen Xers’ adoption of subscription OTT services and smart TVs have really taken off over the past few years," said senior forecasting analyst Chris Bendtsen. "These trends haven’t necessarily added a whole lot to the generation’s digital video audience size overall, but subscription services and smart TVs have affected the number of traditional TV viewers in this age group."

"Millennials aren’t the only ones cutting the cord, and over the next few years the gap in the number of traditional TV vs. digital video viewers will slowly close as some Gen Xers quit cable and satellite in favor of OTT," he added.

Viewing habits among this group aren't very much different from other generations. A survey MullenLowe MediaHub conducted earlier this year found that Netflix, YouTube and Hulu were their top 3 favorite video content providers.

More on Digital Video from eMarketer

Podcasts:

• TV and Digital Video: The Question of Content
• TV and Digital Video: Who's Watching and How
• The Rapidly Shifting Video Market

Articles:

• Facebook is Tops with Everyone Except Teens
• What's Driving Subscription OTT Growth?
• The Social Series: Who's Using Facebook Infographic

Reports:

• US Digital Video and TV StatPack 2018
• Younger Baby Boomers as Digital Users
• Video Ads in Social Media 2018