INTERNET PENETRATION AND THE ADOPTION OF TELEVISION STREAMING AMONG STAKEHOLDERS IN SOUTH-WEST NIGERIA
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Theoretical Framework
The study is anchored on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, propounded by Venkatesh, Morris, Davis and Davis(2003) as a way of having an elaborate information communication technology model. The theory holds that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions are direct determinants of behavioural and usage intention towards information communication technology while gender, age, experience, and voluntary use are the four moderating factors influencing the four constructs. This, according to Atakiti, Adekoya, Ogunwemimo (2019) imply that with the presence of broadband penetration and ease of use in adopting television streaming, demographic dimensions such as socio economic status, age, education and gender will further influence the decision to adopt television streaming.
As such this study proposes that individual’s demographic factors such as age, gender, education, income, and technological background serve as predictors of television streaming. This approach is different from how demographic factors were used in the UTAUT model, where they were tested as facilitating conditions, whereby their moderating effect were tested on the adoption of technology. It is the view of this paper that demographic factors play a significant role in the adoption of television streaming. These factors need to be isolated and tested separately in order to ensure that the hypothesised predictive effectiveness is not being affected by other predictors or factors; which may be the case if used as moderators. Consequently, this paper justifies its approach with the need to assess the direct predictive powers of demographic dimensions on the adoption of television streaming.
Growth of Television Streaming
For most of the twentieth century, the available means of watching television were through over-the-air broadcasts and cable signals. With broadcast television, an antenna picks up radio waves to transmit pictures and sound to your television set. Cable wire television on the other hand connects to a set-top box or to TV itself. The wires run from a house to the nearest cable television station, which acts as one big antenna. Advances in technology are however changing the broadcast industry. The Internet has been available for a long period of time with industries tapping into the opportunities it provided. The world's first live streaming event,as reported by The Guardian (2016),was in September 1995 when ESPN Sports Zone streamed a live radio broadcast of a baseball game between the Seattle Mariners and the New York Yankees to thousands of its subscribers worldwide using cutting-edge technology developed by a Seattle-based start- up company named Progressive Networks. Television on the Internet was slow to take off because of copyright and piracy concerns coupled with the fact that few viewers had sufficient bandwidth (space on the wires bringing content into people’s home). The development of video compression software and broadband penetration in later years enabled the broadcast industry to begin television streaming. Television on the Internet was heralded by the 2006 announcements by three major broadcast networks in the United States; ABC, NBC and Fox.
This development led Deloitte (2015) to observe that media consumption across the globe is increasingly happening in digital formats on the Internet. The reason adduced to this is the rapid growth of the Internet and broadband technology coupled with proliferation of computer devices across the globe. Indrawati and Kusumoaji (2015) emphasised the importance of Internet penetration in the broadcast industry before it can embark on streaming services. While there are several religious institutions and new generation online based televisions that have gone into full-fledged streaming services as a major means of reaching their audiences, some of Nigeria’s terrestrial television stations are not yet viable in television streaming while a few are partially into television streaming adopting mostly the Video on Demand (VoD) streaming technology. Examples of religious institutions that have their live streaming television platforms are: Africa Christian Broadcasting Network (ACBN) is Africa’s official Christian Television Station. According to ACBN (2016), it is the most watched and the fastest growing faith based channel transmitting quality Christian programmes live from their world studio in Lagos, Nigeria to nations of Africa, America, Canada, Australia, Asia and Europe with 24 hours, 7 days a week live stream in real time. Mercy Television, Dove Television, Chosen Television, MFM Television and Emmanuel.tv are also examples of religious institutions that broadcast live and video on demand streaming services on deliverance and prophetic ministry to the members.
An example of Internet based television streaming service in Nigeria is the Ndani TV powered by Guaranteed Trust Bank Plc. Ndani TV provides entertainment from Kenya’s own Silicon Valley, the beautiful South African coats, to Nigeria’s vast entertainment landscape. It has variety of rich content from best Nollywood as well as the classics, exclusive interviews and backstage access to Africa’s largest fashion events as well as features on the continent’s most beautiful destinations and the most exciting sport interviews and analysis (Ndani TV, 2016). Other Internet based television stations in Nigeria are Cool TV, Planet TV, Wazobia Television, TV 360 Nigeria, Koga Television and Hip Television (Live from Naija, 2016)
Among the terrestrial television stations in Nigeria, Channels Television was the first to adopt television streaming. The relevance of television streaming was seen in the way Channels adopted it for the coverage of the 2015 and 2019 general elections in Nigeria. The international and national audiences both within and in diaspora were able to keep a tab and watch the proceedings live from the station’s streaming site. Other television stations that provide streaming services on the Internet to some extent are: African Independent Television (AIT), Silverbird Television, Television Continental (TVC), Galaxy Television, NTA News 24, Independent Television (ITV, Benin) and Murhi International Television (MITV).
Demography and Adoption of Television Streaming
Digital divide is a social issue referring to a gulf between those who have access to the computer and the Internet and those who do not have the access. Internet allows people, businesses and governments to transform the ways they communicate and engage with one another but some parts of the population are still excluded from using it. Digital divide is characterized by demography such as age, income, education and socio-economic status. According to Niehaves and Plattfaut (2014), access to mobile and Internet is concentrated among wealthier, urbanized citizens, than lower income citizens, and those in rural or semi-urban regions.
As such, while Internet and broadband penetration is improving in Nigeria, its wide adoption and utilisation remain unevenly distributed. This is notably attributed to three key drivers of broadband adoption: literacy, age and income, National Broadband Plan (2013). According to Mcconnaughey, Neogi, Goldberg and Brocca (2013) demographic dimensions and geographical location of people lowers the adoption rates among rural, low-income, less- educated, and older individuals. The findings of Penard, Poussing, Mukoko and Tamokwe (2013) in a survey using 2,650 individuals that are representative of the population in Douala, Limbe and Buea in Cameroon also attest to the above assertions as it was reported that Internet users in Cameroon comprises mostly of the young, educated and emplored while the probability of using the Internet is higher in males (53.2%) and among those that are digital literates. In addition, Internet usage patterns vary among age groups; the younger generation uses it more for leisure while the older generation uses the Internet to gather information. The study of Falzon (2016), using an online survey questionnaire that was distributed amongst all the students at the University of Malta, found that respondents were watching more television on their new media devices when compared to watching television through the conventional television sets.
Yang and Kang (2006) exploring factors influencing Internet users’ adoption of Internet television using a sampling of 1, 492 respondents from two metropolitan areas in Taiwan (Taipei and Kaohsiung) with the highest Internet penetration rate found that demographic variables of gender (B=0.068, t=2.700, p<0.001) and income level (0.116, t= - 4.555, p<0.001) significantly predicted consumers’ adoption of Internet television. On the other hand, educational level (0.049, t=1.894, p>0.05) and age (0.005, t=0.189, p>0.05) were not significant predictors of consumers’ adoption of Internet television. This is likely so because the researchers recruited 98.9% of the respondents to be 15 to 29 years (millennials) of age on the basis that they constitute 77% of Taiwan Internet users and 89% of the total population were undergraduates. This may have also accounted for the reason income was a predictor of Internet television adoption as almost all the respondents (81.6%) earned below NTD$10,000 and a very few (14.8%) earned between NTD$10,001 and 20,000. In addition females (52.3%) were more than the males and the coefficient indicates that females were less likely to adopt Internet television. The reason for this was justified based on the fact that males in Taiwan were taught and expected to be technologically inclined than their female counterparts.
Consumer Lab study (2015) using online interview from 20, 000 respondents aged 16 to 69 across 20 markets in Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, UK, Ukraine and the US further reveals that 82% within the ages of 60 to 69 years old prefer the
traditional television while those between ages 16-34 spend 53% of their television viewing time on their smartphones, tablets and laptops. In another related study conducted Terragon (2014) disclosed that an average Nigerian Internet user spends 3 hours surfing the net. In addition, Terragon (2014) revealed that 78% of Internet users in Nigeria are between the ages of 19 and 35 and that 45 percent of Nigerian netizens are students. This is probably so because majority of students are mostly referred to as digital natives coupled with the fact that they surf the Internet for research.
In a study by Digital Demography survey (2016) in the US employing an online survey among 2,205 US consumers focusing on four generations in six age groups; Millennials (1983-2001), Generation X (1982-1966), Baby
boomers (1965-1947) and the matures (1946 and older), it was reported that smartphones remained the most valued device across all the generation as at 2015, followed by the laptop computer. Deloitte (2015) report also agrees with the above survey as it was also reported that among digital devices, mobile devices especially the smartphone is the preferred medium of consuming online media. According to Deloitte (2015):
The smartphone market has seen an unprecedented growth in the last 5 years. Smartphone devices across the globe grew at a CAGR of 17%
as compared to 9.5% growth in all mobile devices. Smartphones crossed 2 billion mark in 2014 and are expected to reach 4.6 billion by 2019 (p. 5.)
With rise in smartphone competition from key players in the industry, consumers can choose their devices from an increasing list of manufacturers at constantly decreasing prices and choose their connectivity from a bouquet of offers with constantly decreasing prices.
Pew Research (2015) report further reveals the growing preference of smartphones and tablets in accessing the Internet. This was revealed in the report based mostly on telephone interviews conducted March 17 through April 12, 2015, among a national sample of 1,907 adults aged 18 and older living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Of these respondents, 672 were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 1,235 were interviewed on a cell phone, including 730 who had no landline telephone. Of the full sample, 1,612 are Internet users, 68% of adults have smart phones and 45% have tablet computers. Also, 86% of those ages 18-29 have a smartphone, as do 83% of those ages 30-49.
A survey conducted among 1146 adults using broadband in United States of America by (TDG Research, 2016) showed that younger adults preferred streaming services to
traditional television. 66.3 percent of those aged 18-24 and 61.8 percent of those aged 25-34 chose streaming services while 70 percent of ages 35 and above still prefer the traditional television to viewing streams on the Internet. Similarly, Pew Research 2017) revealed that six-in-ten of those ages 18 to 29 (61%) adopts television streaming compared to 31 percent who watch television programmes via cable or satellite subscriptions in the United States. These findings suggest and give credence to the fact that the millennial adapt to the many technologies that the Internet has to offer than the older generation