Beyond the Binge: Making Sense of How Consumers Choose Subscription Streaming Services

Audience  Media Industry and Consumers 

Back in 2007, when someone wanted to subscribe to a streaming service, little confusion existed because only one service was available then — Netflix, which still reigns over the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) kingdom.

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the contemporary SVOD dominion has become a bit more crowded with more than 50 streaming services available worldwide.

How do today’s consumers juggling all these streaming options decide which services to support?

According to a new study by Sylvia Chan-Olmsted, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) Media Production, Management, and Technology professor and director of consumer media research, and UFCJC doctoral student Anran Luo, customers are not looking for a “best” service.

Rather, what’s important is how viewers curate their services into what the researchers call “repertoires.”

They write that “consumers are attempting to curate an exquisite selection of services that satisfy their content needs for a reasonable price while avoiding streaming confusion (uncertainty about where to access the content) and fatigue (too many options).”

The researchers surveyed 1,038 U.S. streaming subscribers to get a sense of how they picked and chose from the media marketplace to assemble their repertoires. They did not focus on traditional metrics, like viewing habits or genre preferences. Their approach was holistic — how do different services coexist within one ecosystem to create a repertoire?

According to the study, 91% of subscribers held multiple subscriptions, with an average of 4.88, and the composition of their repertoires was remarkably similar — Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu, which media marketers refer to as the “Big 3” with subscription rates of 76.9%, 64.2% and 57.4%, respectively.

Most viewers anchor their package with Netflix and then expand to include specialized or niche content, the study found. These viewing patterns reveal that SVODs don’t need to compete for sole viewership but should focus on offering a specific role within a viewer’s repertoire.

The study also showed that as the size of a repertoire changes, so do the viewing habits. Those with larger collections also partake in more binge-watching and doing so with other people.

Streaming services should take note of viewing predilections. SVODs do not need to be everything to everyone. Instead, they could benefit from understanding and optimizing the role they play within their customers’ repertoires — as a core service, complement or niche provider.

Additionally, the study found increasing popularity of “one-stop” streaming stores that offer subscriptions to multiple services, e.g. Amazon Prime Video, which also provides access to Paramount+, Starz, AMC+ and many others.

That said, the larger repertoires can be challenging as viewers with multiple services say they often experience option fatigue and express a desire for more streamlined services. Streaming services can capitalize on this by providing more customization opportunities for their viewers, making it easier to navigate and discover curated content for their expanding collections.

Despite the many thousands of movies in the world, the appetite for media content continues to increase. PwC estimates that by 2027, the streaming industry will generate $75.5 billion annually.

The future of streaming might well depend on how services position themselves within their viewers developing repertoires, offering them not just new and different content, but a clear value proposition within their broader streaming ecosystem.

The original paper, “Streaming Video Service Repertoire: Patterns, Drivers, and Decisions,” was published in the International Journal on Media Management on September 11, 2024.

 Authors: Sylvia Chan-Olmsted and Anran Luo

 This summary was written by Gigi Marino.

Posted: October 24, 2024
Insights Categories: Audience, Media Industry and Consumers
Tagged as: Anran Luo, streaming, Sylvia Chan-Olmsted, Video Streaming