NEWS

Report: 70% Of U.S. Respondents Say There’s Too Much Streaming Video

November 4, 2019

Erik Gruenwedel

AppleTV+ and Disney+ are apparently entering a crowded SVOD market.

Likewise Inc. published new research that found more than half of Americans surveyed with a streaming service believe there are too many streaming services. Launched in 2018, Likewise is a recommendation software company catering to movies, TV shows, books and podcasts.

According to an Oct. 17 survey of 1,501 people, the average streaming household has three streaming services and 70% of those surveyed agreed that despite having access to so much content, they often struggle to figure out what to watch next.

Ian Morris, CEO of Likewise, said streaming services largely provide recommendations to their viewers, but only for shows on that particular service.

“The bottom line is that people need help figuring out what to watch and where to watch it. That’s the problem we’re solving for Likewise users and why we created the Likewise TV app,” Morris said in a statement.

The survey found streamers spend more than 15 minutes trying to decide what to watch before diving into their next TV show or movie. In fact, nearly one in five spend more than 20 minutes reviewing their choices whenever they are looking for something new to watch.

Other key findings about streaming users from the survey include:

  • Half (49%) say they spend too much time trying to find new things to watch and that number increases sharply for people with more services: 39% for people with one streaming service, 49% for people with two to four, and 68% for those with five or more.
  • 44% find navigating multiple streaming services frustrating and confusing.
    59% say that they often get frustrated when they can’t find a specific show or movie.
  • 86% say that recommendations from friends and family are useful in deciding what to watch next.
  • Over a third (36%) of users with more than one streaming service plan to cancel at least one of their current streaming services within the next year. This increases to 59% for those that have 5 or more services.

 

“The explosion of content on the small screen is a double-edged sword for viewers,” Morris said. “We have more high-quality choices than ever before, but we’re wasting hours and hours looking for the next ‘Game of Thrones’ or ‘Stranger Things.'”

Likewise found almost half (47%) of streaming users expect to subscribe to at least one new streaming service within the next year. About 41% would consider subscribing to Disney+, rising to 60% for those ages 25-34.

Only 25% would consider subscribing to Apple TV+, with most interest coming from 18-24 year olds, 35% of whom would consider subscribing.
A quarter (25%) would also consider subscribing to HBO Max, with most interest coming from 35-44 year olds, 32% of whom would consider subscribing. Only 8% would consider subscribing to Peacock by NBC Universal.

Read More:
https://www.mediaplaynews.com/report-70-of-u-s-respondents-say-theres-too-much-streaming-content-choice/