Research analyst group Hub has released new streaming subscription findings in its annual Monetization of Video survey conducted earlier this year. The results show there is a limit to the number of streaming platforms a person is willing to subscribe to, and that this number has already been reached by nearly half of those surveyed.
According to the survey in which 1,602 people were included, 43 percent asked said they had as many subscriptions as they could use. Of the remaining surveyed, 22 percent said they either didn’t have a maximum number of subscriptions in mind while 35 percent stated they were under their max.
“The video ecosystem is clearly at an inflection point. Gone are the days when providers could reliably count on revenue growth from new subscribers,” said Mark Loughney, senior consultant to Hub. “This leads to a quandary: how to deliver the volume of content necessary to keep subscribers loyal, while at the same time controlling production costs. Reconciling this dilemma will be the key to long-term success in the video marketplace.”
Although 44 percent surveyed said they were spending more on entertainment than last year, subscribers are saying an average of $85 a month is about 25 percent higher than what they’d deem “reasonable” for the services.
Hub’s report also shows those who have multiple television subscriptions are more likely to cancel within 6 months of signing up for a new service. For households with 4 or more subscriptions, 55 percent said they had canceled new subscriptions within 6 months. Households with 3 services show 31 percent canceled within that timeframe, 22 percent for people with 2 subscriptions, while those with only 1 subscription canceled 16 percent of the time.
So what keeps a member subscribed? Hubs found that a low cost was the number one most important factor, followed by a guaranteed price, and a large content library. Subscribers ranked a lack of technical issues and platforms hosting all seasons of a series.
Customers ranked rentals and purchasing videos as the least important option in a streaming subscription, along with offline viewing, and older television series.