Survey Detects Consumer Fatigue From Streaming Services

Three streaming video subscriptions seems to be the ticket for cord cutters and binge watchers. But many consumers are beginning to feel weighed down by too many subscriptions, according to USAToday citing a new survey.

The average consumer now subscribes to three streaming video services – the same level of commitment as last year, consulting and advisory firm Deloitte found in its Digital Media Trends survey published Tuesday.

Overall, more people are subscribing to streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu, with 69 percent of consumers saying they subscribe to at least one, up from 55 percent last year, according to Deloitte.

Even as more consumers subscribe to video delivered over the internet, nearly half (47 percent) of those surveyed say they are experiencing subscription fatigue., according to the survey of 2,003 U.S. digital consumers conducted Dec. 2018-Feb. 2019.

There's now more than 300 streaming services to choose from – up from 200-plus a year ago – and consumers may be feeling overwhelmed, says Kevin Westcott, Deloitte's vice chairman for U.S. telecom, media and entertainment.

"Well over half (of consumers) say they are frustrated when shows they like disappear or are no longer on a streaming service and that they have to have multiple subscriptions to get what they want," he said. "So there is a little bit of subscription fatigue."

Other findings from Deloitte’s study:

• Originals drive subscriptions: High-quality original content continues to be a dominant factor in streaming video growth, with 57% of all current U.S. streaming consumers (and 71% of millennials, ages 22-35) saying they subscribe to streaming video services to access original content.
• TV ad loads: 75% of consumers say they would be more satisfied with pay-TV service if there were fewer ads, and 77% said ads on pay TV should be under 10 seconds. Respondents indicated 8 minutes of ads per hour of programming was the reasonable upper bound — while they also said that 16 minutes or more of commercials per hour is the point they would stop watching.
• Data privacy: Consumers are increasingly wary of how companies handle their data, with 82% saying they don’t believe companies do enough to protect their personal data. Just 7% of respondents believe the government should play a role in protecting their data.
• Voice assistants: Ownership of voice-enabled home speakers grew 140% year-over-year in 2018, with total penetration soaring from 15% to 36%. The top five uses of voice-enabled digital assistants are playing music, searching for information, getting directions, making phone calls and setting alerts. However, half of consumers said they don’t use voice-enabled digital assistants at all, and only 18% claimed to use if daily.
• Video games: 41% of U.S. consumers play games at least weekly; among Gen Z (14-21) consumers, 54% do. Gaming consoles are being used more often as an entertainment hub — to stream TV/movie content (46%), watch online content (42%), browse the internet (34%), stream music (25%), and stream eSports (11%).
• Esports: One-third of U.S. consumers watch esports at least once a week — and 54% of Gen Z respondents do.

The U.S. data for the 13th edition of Deloitte’s Digital Media Trends survey was collected from an online survey of 2,003 consumers fielded from December 2018 to February 2019.