Too many choices. Viewer fatigue. Fragmentation. Restricted access.
As OTT and advertising-fueled video on demand (AVOD) services continue to gain speed, both from a marketer and consumer perspective, new research indicates that everyday viewers are getting increasingly frustrated.
What could this mean for the entire television industry?
Growth and disruption of the streaming revolution are continuing at pace, Horowitz Research concludes in its State of Pay TV, OTT & SVOD 2021 report.
It is a benchmark study that explores the challenges and opportunities of the pay TV environment, including MVPDs, vMVPDs, and SVODs.
For the broadcast TV industry, this study sheds a light on what services TV content viewing households are using and paying for, how viewers are bundling traditional and new services, drivers for subscription, satisfaction with video services, and more. This could prove valuable with counter-programming, marketing or promotional needs as well as how to navigate an entry into AVOD platforms without cannibalizing the linear TV product.
“Consumer perceptions of chaos and their continued retention of (and perhaps nostalgia for) managed MVPD services is at this juncture not surprising,” Horowitz notes, as it points to the launch of discovery+, HBO Max, Peacock, Disney+ and Paramount+ (formerly CBS AllAccess) while witnessing the rise and crash of Quibi.
From 2018 to 2021, SVOD subscriptions increased from 50% to 74% among TV content viewers.
Here’s the good news for over-the-air broadcasters: Access live TV content, watching episodes of shows on the day they air, and having access to news continues to be important to TV content viewers when making subscription decisions for their household.
While Horowitz uses this finding to demonstrate that it could be a saving grace for the MVPD, it only reinforces the continued importance of local TV.
And, it could bring a beneficial sigh of relief to those who simply can’t find something to watch easily anymore.
“Streamers are feeling overwhelmed with the sheer number of options now available; the Horowitz survey finds that half of TV content viewers feel that there are too many streaming services (50%),” Horowitz notes.
“New players, including industry giants Discovery and NBCUniversal, have entered an already-crowded landscape with their own- direct to consumer services, which is ultimately resulting in less content from major media brands available on streaming stalwarts such as Netflix,” it continues. “Amid this chaos, streamers are struggling to keep connected to their favorite content: 49% of TV content viewers say they find it hard to know what shows are on which streaming services, and 44% say they often have a hard time something to watch at all.”
Adriana Waterston, SVP of Insights and Strategy for Horowitz, notes, “We are at a very interesting, pivotal moment. In the early days of streaming, many media companies were concerned that their network brands no longer mattered in the new ecosystem, with so much content from so many networks consolidated and commoditized under the Netflix umbrella. With this shift towards a direct-to-consumer approach, brands matter once again — a win-win for driving both subscription and advertising revenue.”
