Research: Consumers seek streamlined viewing experience
December 5, 2023
The latest wave of Hub Entertainment Research’s semi-annual Battle Royale survey sheds new light on how consumers make decisions in an increasingly crowded landscape of entertainment providers.
Consumers are feeling the bite of more expensive streaming:
In Hub’s latest survey, 88 per cent of entertainment consumers agree with the statement that streaming video subscriptions are raising their prices more than in the past, and three-quarters (77 per cent) said budget is a main reason for not adding new ones.
But complexity is as big of a barrier as cost:
While people are excited about the volume of content available now, the day is still only 24 hours long. Three-quarters say it’s too hard to keep track of where to find the shows they want to watch. More than 80 per cent say that there’s a limit to how many subscriptions they can actually use, even if they could afford to have them all.
The end result: Many are willing to pay for a simpler experience:
59 per cent of respondents said they’d be willing to pay for a ‘one stop shop’ app – something that lets them manage, use and pay for all their subscriptions in one place, even though that would be above and beyond the cost of the subscriptions themselves.
“Viewers are excited about the volume of content to choose from,” notes Jon Giegengack, principal at Hub. “Their biggest problem now is figuring out how to use it all. Companies who can make entertainment simpler (through things like bundling or universal search) will attract more subscribers. But even more importantly they’ll be offering a service for which many are willing to pay extra – a huge win for companies seeking to make streaming profitable.”