Survey: More streamers than pay-TV subs
February 17, 2021
Research from Amdocs Media, a software provider to media and communications companies, into UK consumers’ digital subscriptions has revealed that more people now have an OTT/streaming subscription than a traditional cable/satellite TV subscription.
Findings include:
- More people in the UK now have an OTT/streaming subscription (83 per cent) than a traditional cable/satellite TV subscription (69 per cent). In fact, one in three (33 per cent) has two or more steaming subscriptions and 14 per cent have three or more. Additionally, more than half (54 per cent) said they use their OTT subscriptions more now than before the pandemic started.
- Consumers say that streaming services are delivering on their content needs. 70 per cent of UK consumers that have streaming subscriptions say that they get all of the content that they need from services. Meanwhile, 59 per cent of cable/satellite subscribers say that they get all of the content they need from satellite providers.
- However, most people (73 per cent) would prefer to pay a lower price for a subscription package that had less content overall, but the content they got was more tailored to their preferences. TV/streaming viewers were most in favour of a more restricted but personalised subscription.
- 45 per cent of people have participated in some form of virtual viewing party during the lockdown, either through social media or a video conferencing tool such as Zoom.
- E-learning subscription services were the most likely to be added since the start of the pandemic, with 39 per cent of those who have a subscription only subscribing since March 2020. However, despite their growing importance, e-learning, wellness and paid journalism were still the least popular types of subscriptions in UK households overall.
- 20 per cent of households are currently subscribed to an e-learning service, 25 per cent to a wellness service and 26 per cent to some form of paid journalism/media content. By comparison, 45 per cent are paying for a gaming service and 60 per cent are paying for a music subscription. Additionally, e-learning, wellness and paid journalism were also the most likely subscriptions to be cancelled during lockdown as consumers reconsider their spending habits.
- People are least receptive to adverts on wellness apps, but overall, adverts had little bearing on whether or not someone cancelled a subscription across all types of services.
- 45 per cent of UK households are now subscribed to a gaming service, and 60 per cent now subscribed to a music streaming service.
- Consumers have been spending less on music services than all over digital subscriptions, with 54 per cent of subscribers spending less than £10 a month. Music streamers were also the most impacted by ads, with 17 per cent saying the amount of ad-free content drives their loyalty to a service (compared to an average 7 per cent).
- Music (47 per cent) and gaming (45 per cent) services were used more by consumers during the pandemic, with only streaming (54 per cent) seeing a bigger increase in usage.
- Gamers were most likely to want full access to all content, with 47 per cent saying they wouldn’t be interested in a more bespoke package. Whereas TV/streaming viewers were much more open to a more restricted but personalised subscription.
- When asked what drives loyalty to a subscription service, more consumers today care about the quality and quantity of content available to them, than price
- 46 per cent of consumers said the quantity of content factors into their loyalty to a service
- 44 per cent of consumers said quality of content
- 29 per cent said price or availability of different pricing options
- 24 per cent said the smoothness of the onboarding process
- 11 per cent said the ratio of ads: ad-free content
- Across all forms of subscription services, 61 per cent of UK consumers were willing to exchange personal data to improve their subscription experience further, with the top requested benefits being:
- Access to more content (40 per cent)
- Access to the same content, but at a lower price (37 per cent)
- Fewer ads (32 per cent)
“Lockdowns have seen consumers wanting more from their subscription services,” notes Raman Abrol, General Manager & Chief Commercial Officer at Amdocs. “This data shows there is a real desire for more high quality content and bespoke content packages across the increasingly wide range of subscription services we now enjoy.”