The way people watch television keeps changing, and the latest research shows just how quickly. A new national survey found that about a third of U.S. adults would rather watch highlights of a TV show than sit through full episodes, and that the preference is even stronger among younger viewers. At the same time, the survey and a second industry study point to growing interest in bundled entertainment packages that combine live TV, streaming, and other services at a lower combined price.
I am Doug Roberts, chief technology officer at Cytranet. Headlines about viewing habits might sound like news for media companies, but I read them with a different lens. Every change in how people consume video eventually shows up on the networks that carry it, and on the hotels, apartment communities, senior living properties, and student housing operators who provide entertainment as an amenity. Here is what the research says and what I believe it means for the properties and businesses we serve.
What the research found
The survey, commissioned by a technology company that specializes in subscription bundling and conducted in September by an independent research firm, polled 2,500 U.S. adults. Among the key findings:
- 32 percent of adults said they would rather watch show highlights than full episodes, rising to 43 percent among Gen Z respondents.
- 40 percent said they would use their streaming services more often if those services offered short clips from their shows, rising to 53 percent among Gen Z.
- 37 percent said they were already using a streaming service more frequently since it began offering vertical video clips, rising to 47 percent among millennials.
- 51 percent said clips helped them identify shows worth paying for.
Full-length programming has not lost its pull, however. Sixty-five percent of respondents said new episodes of the shows they follow matter when deciding whether to keep paying for a streaming service.
The survey also looked at families. About 44 percent of respondents saw value in short videos from a brand they trust, 37 percent said curated clips could help keep children away from social media, and 40 percent said original or exclusive short videos could help justify the cost of a subscription.
Pricing and packaging stood out as well. Sixty-one percent said they would be more likely to keep a subscription if they could get it for less through a bundle. Among Gen Z respondents, 21 percent said they had moved from paying for a service on its own to receiving it through a bundle within the past year to save money. Music subscriptions were the add-on most often cited as making a streaming service more valuable, mentioned by 23 percent.
The bundling theme matches a separate report released in September by a consumer technology research firm. That study found that 51 percent of U.S. internet households would prefer a package combining live TV with streaming services, and that 68 percent of streaming pay-TV subscribers found the idea of a smaller, lower-cost “skinny” bundle appealing.
The executive who commissioned the first survey made an important point: the results should not be read as a sign that viewers have lost patience for full episodes. Instead, they suggest people want both formats, and they want them packaged in a way that is affordable to keep.
Why a network engineer cares about viewing habits
Short-form video and long-form streaming place very different demands on a network, and most households and properties now see both happening at the same time. A resident might be watching a full movie on the living room television while a roommate scrolls through dozens of short vertical clips on a phone and someone else joins a video call for work. Each of those streams competes for bandwidth and, just as important, for airtime on the wireless network.
Short clips are deceptively demanding. Each one starts a new stream, preloads the next video, and often runs at high resolution on a modern phone screen. Multiply that by hundreds of residents or guests in the evening, and you have a pattern of constant, bursty demand that consumer-grade equipment was never designed to handle. When a property’s Wi-Fi was planned around a few laptops per unit, it can struggle badly when every person carries two or three video-hungry devices.
What this means for hotels, apartments, and other properties
Entertainment is now a two-part amenity
For years, the television amenity meant a cable lineup in every room. Today, guests and residents expect two things: a dependable lineup of live channels for news, sports, and local programming, and a fast, reliable connection for the streaming apps and short-form video they already use. The research suggests that people value both, and the properties that deliver both well have a real advantage when guests write reviews or residents decide whether to renew.
Cytranet provides hospitality and multi-dwelling television service with up to 250 channels, engineered for properties with hundreds or thousands of televisions. We pair that with managed Wi-Fi designed for the density and video load of modern properties, so live TV and streaming each have the capacity they need.
Bundling is a property strategy, too
Consumers are telling researchers they want bundles because bundles save money and simplify life. Property owners can offer exactly that. When a building provides internet and television as a bulk amenity, residents avoid separate installations, separate bills, and separate service calls, and owners can turn connectivity into a selling point or even a revenue stream. We have written about how this works for multi-dwelling communities and for multi-tenant office buildings.
Plan the network for evenings, not averages
Video demand peaks in the evening, when guests return to their rooms and residents come home. Designing a network around average daytime usage almost guarantees frustration at 8 p.m. A well-designed property network starts with an adequately sized fiber connection, continues with properly placed access points and quality structured cabling, and includes management tools that balance load, isolate devices securely, and alert engineers before residents notice a problem.
Families want safer, simpler options
The finding that many parents see curated clips as a way to keep children off social media is a reminder that families care about control. Managed property networks can support content filtering options, device-level management, and private network segments for each unit, giving families more confidence in the connection they share.
What this means for businesses
The shift toward short video is not limited to entertainment. Employees increasingly learn through brief training clips, marketing teams produce short vertical videos for social media, and customers expect quick video answers to common questions. Each of those trends adds upload and download demand to business networks. If your organization creates or shares video regularly, symmetrical bandwidth, which provides upload speeds as fast as download speeds, becomes far more important than it was a few years ago. Dedicated fiber delivers exactly that.
Restaurants, retail stores, waiting rooms, and lobbies also face rising guest expectations for Wi-Fi that can handle video smoothly. A separate, well-managed guest network keeps those visitors happy without putting your business systems at risk.
Protect voice quality when video demand spikes
There is one more business consideration that often gets overlooked. When employees, guests, and customers all stream video on the same connection, voice calls can suffer. A cloud phone system needs steady, low-latency bandwidth, and a burst of video traffic can introduce choppy audio or dropped calls at exactly the wrong moment. Separating guest and business traffic, applying quality-of-service rules that prioritize voice, and sizing the connection with headroom for peak hours keep your business phone system sounding clear no matter how much video is flowing through the building.
My takeaway
People are not abandoning long-form television, and they are not choosing between short clips and full episodes. They want both, on every screen they own, at a price that makes sense. For those of us who build networks, that means planning for more simultaneous video, more devices per person, and more evening demand than ever before. For property owners and businesses, it means treating entertainment and connectivity as a combined amenity that deserves professional design and support.
Frequently asked questions
How much bandwidth does a property need for streaming video?
It depends on the number of units, devices per person, and peak usage patterns. We size property networks based on evening demand and plan headroom for growth, rather than relying on averages.
Can Cytranet provide both television and internet for a property?
Yes. We deliver hospitality and multi-dwelling television service with up to 250 channels, along with fiber connectivity and managed Wi-Fi, so owners can offer a complete entertainment and connectivity amenity through one partner.
Is managed Wi-Fi only for large properties?
No. We design managed Wi-Fi for hotels, apartment communities, senior living, student housing, offices, clinics, schools, and event venues of many sizes.
Talk with Cytranet
Cytranet is a Las Vegas-based, licensed telecommunications carrier serving businesses, property owners, nonprofits, and government agencies across Nevada, Arizona, California, and beyond. Our services include dedicated fiber and fixed wireless internet, managed Wi-Fi, hospitality and multi-dwelling television service, hosted business VoIP, SIP trunking, colocation, and managed IT services. If you would like to explore how your property or business can keep up with the way people watch, our team would enjoy the conversation.
Call 702-846-5000, email info@cytranet.com, or request a free technology evaluation.
Talk to Cytranet
A business-only carrier for fiber internet, cloud voice, managed Wi-Fi, and managed IT. Start with a free technology evaluation.
