Switch the Channel : A TV Business Model for the Millennial Generation

Sammanfattning: The Millennial Generation, born between 1982 and 2000, are used to the ubiquity of modern devices and are always ‘on’. Therefore, they use and consume media differently than preceding generations. Now that they are ageing and becoming part of the advertising relevant target group, TV executives need to think about how and especially where to reach this target demographic. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to develop a better understanding of how the Millennial Generation is consuming the traditional medium of television and how a business model geared towards their needs and demands should look like. Through conducting an empirical study among over 750 Millennials, the author identified the TV consumption behaviour of this generation and subsequently defined three subgroups within the field of participants. According to the research most of the Millennials still own and use traditional TV sets; however, they watch an increasing amount of TV content online and especially on demand. Their preferred payment model is subscription based, even though just a small percentage of them actually have a subscription. Moreover, they use mostly illegal streaming websites to watch TV content they want; especially if it is foreign content that is not available on other platforms yet. The final result of this thesis is a business model that was built upon the needs and consumption behaviour of one of the subgroups of Millennials who prefer subscription services. This subgroup is used to consuming TV content online and they watch the highest amount of TV series among the Millennials. The business model addresses these factors and describes a subscription video on demand service addressing the needs of the Millennials such as an early release of new episodes. Furthermore, new sources of revenue are introduced that can provide sufficient funding for content acquisition and production. This business model could serve as a starting point for TV executives to further think about the specific needs of this attractive target demographic and how to address them.