Netflix and Amazon, two of the oldest streaming services around, have subscribers that are willing to stick around the longest, with an average duration of more than four years, according to a study conducted by research firm Parks Associates.
Netflix is the undisputed leader, with customers on average staying for more than 55 months, while Amazon’s Prime Video customers stay for more than 50 months, Parks said.
On the bottom the pile, however, is Peacock, with customers staying for a little more than 10 months.
The numbers are partly reflective of how established each service is, particularly in the minds of consumers. Netflix has weathered everything from multiple rounds of price increases to a crackdown on password sharing, but continues to see growth thanks to its vast library of content. Prime Video is a free add-on to the Prime subscription service, so it’s no surprise that turnover there is low. It’ll be interesting to see whether people will start to pay extra to eliminate ads when Prime Video starts adding commercials next year.
“Households are still experimenting with different services as they evolve over time to build their own service stack,” said Eric Sorensen, director of Parks Associates’ Streaming Video Tracker report. “Service consolidation has changed subscription dynamics, as Showtime has become part of Paramount+ and HBO is now Max, but even as consolidation occurs, it is having a limited effect on churn for these services.”
Hulu comes in third, and then there’s a steep drop with the next tier of services, with Starz, Paramount+, and Disney+ coming in at fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively.
Max and Apple TV+ are right behind them, and there’s another drop-off in time before it gets to last-place Peacock.
“Premium service subscriptions average around two years, which suggests consumers are getting better value out of the consolidated content,” Sorensen said.
Image credit: Netflix