Over one-third of video streaming subscribers are adopting “service hopping” or “churn and return” patterns as they drift between program platforms.
Deloitte found over half of millennials and Gen Z viewers added or canceled a streaming service in the past six months. Jana Arbanas, vice chair of Deloitte LLP and U.S. telecom, media and entertainment sector leader, says younger viewers are comfortable signing up for something then canceling and re-upping. Equally significant is “they are more cost-conscious” and sensitive to the prices of streaming subscriptions.
“Churn is here to stay,” Arbanas told The Hollywood Reporter. “Streaming companies are going to have to grapple with this consistent volatility with subscribers.”
The Parks Associates analysis spotlighted a decline in households subscribing directly via an OTT provider’s website, with viewers opting to use aggregators. Elizabeth Parks, president and CMO of Parks Associates, explains as streaming companies scramble to establish new subscriber engagement tactics from subscription to platform usage, they are “rapidly diversifying” their approaches. She encourages suppliers to adopt data tactics that enable them “to identify subscribers at risk of churn and tag service hoppers’ who will jump in and out so that providers do not waste resources chasing them in vain.”
Consumer Frustration
In its Future of OTT Aggregation study, media firm Interpret says U.S. homes subscribe to about four SVOD services, but 20% believe that is “too many.” Interpret determined about one-third of subscribers want to manage and search for available content from one place.
That leads back to the existential corporate approaches to streaming. Interpret Vice President Brett Sappington believes aggregation will be “important to mid-sized or smaller streaming services that cannot afford to out-market global or regional streaming giants.”