COMMENTARY

Consumers Strongly Consider Streaming as Tiers Amid Price Increases

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, Today

What’s the bottom line in deciding whether to jump to a less expensive ad-supported streaming service from a no-advertising, fully subscription-based platform?

About $4 to $5 a month.

This comes from a Hub Entertainment Research survey in December 2023 that said 64% of viewers would make the change. A now dwindling 36% say they are still watching ad-free if even it costs them $4 to $5 more a month.

Hub Entertainment Research says this is a significant increase from a year ago, when the percentage was 57%.

Analysts have been concerned that rising overall streaming costs at home are hitting consumers' wallets hard.

Even when asked about those who “can’t tolerate any ads” attached to their content, a growing number say they would rather save a few dollars, according to the research, while 76% agree that “content matters most.”

Results also show that most viewers consider one minute or less a reasonable length for an advertising break for a streaming service, which got approval from 52% to 59% of consumers in the survey.

At the same time, research shows consumers will pay more attention to commercials if the ad-pod lengths are shorter.

Some of the highest scores for "attention" are on Discovery+, Disney+, Max and Netflix.

The study found that consumers are still uncertain when it comes to finding and considering which ad-supported streaming options to purchase.

When asked, for example, whether Netflix had a low-cost option with commercials, 19% of consumers surveyed said they were not sure, while 21% said the same for Hulu; 34% for Disney+; 33% for Peacock; 39% for Paramount+; and 40% for Max.

Hub says the November 2023 research was based 3,000 U.S. consumers age 14-74, who watch at least one hour of TV per week.