Providing Market Intelligence for 40 Years

In The News

A Challenge For Video Streamers Will Be Keeping Subscribers

A Parks Associates analysis reported that SVOD churn rate dropped from 46% in third quarter 2019 to 38% in third quarter 2020. Among recent launches, the churn rate of Disney+ was at 13%, and HBO Max, Apple TV+, and Peacock all had churn rates at around 20%. The more established Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu all had churn rates significantly below the industry average. Steve Nason, the Research Director at Parks Associates, notes with COVID-19, and consumers home bound, they had more time to watch and evaluate SVOD services over a longer period of time. During that time SVOD providers heavily promoted their services including free trials.

Nason also points out that with all the new services launched, SVOD may reach a tipping point in 2021. Cord cutters who cancelled their monthly pay-TV subscription and opted for SVOD providers to save money, may soon find out that by stacking a number of streaming services they will be approaching the same monthly fees as their pay-TV subscription. Consequently, paying for too many SVOD services could result in an increase with churn rates.

Nason expects long running video providers Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video along with Disney+ that have built brand affinity and brand equity, will be less impacted by cancellations than recent launches. In response, expect SVOD providers to offer more exclusive content and promos to maintain (and grow) subscribers. Additionally, Nason expects no major SVOD launches in the near future, beyond the already announced Paramount+ and recently launched Discovery+, for services that will truly threaten the top of the subscription OTT hierarchy.

From the article, "A Challenge For Video Streamers Will Be Keeping Subscribers" by Brad Adgate.  

Previously In The News

Is The Increasingly Crowded Streaming Marketplace Going to Turn Consumers Back to Piracy?

In the short term, consumers are more than happy to keep paying for multiple services. According to a report published by Parks Associates in June 2021, 46 percent of US homes with broadband-level Int...

Smart Home Evolution: Elephant in the Room

While I’m eager to watch the unfolding evolution of smart home technologies, with mind-blowing features like voice-enabled technology, machine learning, virtual reality, location services, and demand...

For years, Amazon ruled the smart speaker market. Now the crown is slipping

And these aren’t the only signs that Amazon’s dominance starting to shake. “We are seeing Amazon-branded devices are going down compared to the other players,” Dina Abdelrazik, a smart home research a...

The Market For Hearable Devices 2016-2020 – And Then There Were Airpods…

The hearables market goes back to the first Bluetooth headsets which were launched in 2001, followed by wireless stereo headphones, which arrived a few years later. Neither made great waves in the mar...