Friday, January 26, 2024

Consumers Strongly Consider Streaming as Tiers Amid Price Increases

COMMENTARY

Consumers Strongly Consider Streaming as Tiers Amid Price Increases

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.

No comments: