A major selling point for over-the-top (OTT) streaming services it the fact they’re easy to get into, and just as easy to drop, which is not generally the case with more traditional pay TV options. As people get ready for some time off work over the holidays, at least one report is indicating that many are thinking of subscribing to a new OTT service to while away some of their festive downtime.
Billing and CRM specialist Paywizard released survey information on Thursday saying that worldwide, OTT subscriptions have jumped from 25 percent to 45 percent in just 12 months. Additionally, the study says that 30 percent of consumers surveyed intend to subscribe to OTT services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Instant Video, and Hulu in the run-up to Christmas this year, up from 27 percent in 2015. Around 18 percent of respondents reported that they’re planning on subscribing for the first time, and 12 percent say it’ll be on top of existing subscriptions.
Paywizard commissioned the study from Research Now, and it includes results from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, Australia, and Singapore.
The research into TV viewing trends during the holiday period shows that 59 percent of the 6,242 consumers surveyed plan to watch more TV overall. Christmas 2016 looks strong for OTT operators, according to the study, as the projected new subscriber figures (18 percent) added to those for existing customers (45 percent) would take the total percentage of subscribers to 63 percent after Christmas.
However – and this is an important however − the findings also reveal that 50 percent of those planning to take an OTT service for the first time this holiday season intend to cancel their subscription within six months.
“There are definitely huge opportunities for OTT players to build on the momentum paid video-on-demand services are showing across all markets. Nonetheless, while OTT operators are poised for another huge lift this Christmas, it is clear that subscribers view these services as an activity they can dip in and out of,” Bhavesh Vaghela, Paywizard’s CMO, observes. “Keeping customers loyal is the major challenge facing providers. As OTT adoption nears the 60 percent range, operators need to address every point of the customer journey and work harder to keep new and old subscribers alike.”
The research also indicates that despite global OTT brands Netflix and Amazon Prime driving the most OTT growth, the trend is also creating opportunities for local services, as native challenger brands such as Maxdome in Germany and Now TV in the United Kingdom show strong potential – with 22 percent and 19 percent of respondents respectively saying they plan to sign up to these services over the holidays.
Another recently released study from Digital TV Research underlines that Netflix will continue to dominate in Western Europe over the next few years. However, that report also predicts Amazon Video will offer some challenges in that area in the next five years. More on that study is available here.
Paywizard further reports that at the top of the list of factors that would make an OTT subscriber terminate service is “too expensive” with 63 percent of those that already have a subscription listing it among the top three reasons they would cancel. “Not much to watch” was the next most popular answer of those surveyed (42 percent), but “bad customer experience” also garnered a 35 percent response.
