29% of US internet households subscribe to more than eight services

Parks Associates’ just-published consumer study, The Viewer Journey: Navigating Streaming Options, finds churn remains a persistent problem for video streaming services, with cost and trouble finding content the leading drivers. Among the 48% of US internet households that cancelled a streaming video service in the past 12 months, 61% feel they are spending too much on these services. Fifty-seven percent admit switching between services when they can’t find anything to watch, while 50% expressed frustration when a favorite show is cancelled or removed from a service. 

“Service providers are in a precarious position in finding the right balance between cost and content, as many consumers are ready to vent their frustrations by cancelling a service,” said Sarah Lee, Research Analyst, Parks Associates. “But consumers are not excited by the many service choices—more than half of households who recently churned feel there are too many streaming options to choose from. This finding suggests consolidated service models are the right move. For example, ESPN, Fox Corp., and Warner Bros. Discovery recently announced a streaming sports service that will include multiple networks and all major sports leagues. Consumers wants this type of one-stop service.”

The Viewer Journey: Navigating Streaming Options, a survey of 8,000 US internet households, analyzes how households view content, prioritize and spend money, and how decisions are made to pay for some services over others. Parks Associates’ data from Q3 2023 show that households subscribe to 5.8 services on average, while 29% subscribe to more than eight. Households can build their own service stack, which excludes unwanted channels that typically come with pre-made cable packages, but they are finding it burdensome to manage multiple subscriptions and monitor ever-changing content sources.

“The industry is reconfiguring through mergers, acquisitions, consolidation, and partnerships, all of which will impact content discovery, consumer choice, and budgets,” Lee said. “In the future, consumers may not need to subscribe to as many services to find the content they care about.”

Parks Associates will host the free webinar Streaming Video Tracker: NPS, Churn and Subscriber Growth on March 14, 1 pm CT, where analysts will provide insights on the firm’s consumer data and demo the latest updates to its landmark Streaming Video Tracker service, which now includes churn and NPS data among key services.

The Viewer Journey: Navigating Streaming Options examines the viewer journey for accessing desired video content across broadcast, traditional pay-TV, and the many over-the-top (OTT) streaming video service models, including SVOD, AVOD/FAST, TVOD and vMVPD (streaming TV) services.

To schedule an interview with an analyst or to request specific data, please contact Mindi Sue Sternblitz-Rubenstein at mindi.sue@parksassociates.com or 972-490-1113.

About Parks Associates

Parks Associates, a woman-founded and certified business, is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates provides business intelligence and research services through its proprietary methodologies developed over decades, including quarterly surveys of 10,000 internet households.

The company's expertise crosses many industries: home security and smart home, streaming video, broadband and pay-TV services, digital media and platforms, gaming, Wi-Fi and home networks, connected health, support, consumer electronics, home control systems, energy management, and tech solutions for the multi-dwelling (MDU), small-to-medium business (SMB), and commercial building markets.

Each year, Parks Associates brings thousands of leaders together for its webinars and annual events. The firm hosts the annual executive research and strategy conferences CONNECTIONS™, Connected Health Summit, Smart Energy Summit, Smart Spaces, and Future of Video. https://www.parksassociates.com

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