The average US consumer now subscribes to three paid streaming video services, with more admitting to having a subscription video service than a pay TV subscription for the first time.
This is according to the 13th edition of Deloitte’s Digital Media Trends Survey, which found that 69% of respondents have at least one streaming video subscription while 65% have a traditional pay TV subscription.
Some 43% of consumers said they subscribe to both streaming and traditional pay TV services, while 29% were found to pay for a live TV streaming service.
Among paid streaming video users, 57% said they subscribe to access original content, while 44% cited “no ads” as a top reason for subscribing.
Millennials who stream video were found to spend 46% of their time on paid services, 29% on ad-supported video sites like YouTube, and the remainder of their time split almost equally among streaming from pay TV services, live TV streaming services and rentals or video-on-demand.
With an ever-increasing number of streaming video services to choose from, Deloitte said that consumers are trying and buying a variety of subscription-based or ad-supported video streaming services.
However, 49% of respondents said the amount of content available makes it hard to choose what to watch, while 48% said it’s harder to find content when it’s spread across multiple services.
“With more than 300 over-the-top video options in the US, coupled with multiple subscriptions and payments to track and justify, consumers may be entering a time of ‘subscription fatigue,’” said Kevin Westcott, vice chairman and US telecom and media and entertainment leader at Deloitte.
“As media companies and content owners wrestle with how to retain and grow their subscriber base, they should not only continue to strengthen their content libraries, quality, distribution and value, but also keep a close eye on consumer frustrations, including advertising overload and data privacy concerns.”
The survey found high consumer disapproval of the volume of advertising on pay TV, with 75% saying they would be more satisfied with their service if there were fewer ads.
Respondents said they thought eight minutes of ads per hour was the right amount and 77% indicated that ads on pay TV should be under 10 seconds. Deloitte said that pay TV typically features between 16 and 20 minutes of ads per hour.
Elsewhere, the research noted the popularity of gaming, with 30% consumers surveyed subscribing to a gaming service, 41% playing video games daily or weekly, and 32% watching eSports on a weekly basis.
The 13th edition of Deloitte’s Digital Media Trends Survey was conducted between December 2018 and February 2019, using an online methodology to sample 2,003 US consumers. Data was weighted to the most recent census to give a representative view of the US population.
To access the full report, click here.
