How Post-Peak TV Has Changed Streaming Consumer Behavior
How have streaming viewer consumption habits changed with respect to premium TV in the post-peak TV entertainment landscape? Media universe cartographer Evan Shapiro, Deltatre’s Alex Gruber, and Hub Entertainment Research Jon Giegengack discuss changes in brand loyalty and awareness, churn patterns, the impact of premium sports, and more in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2024.
Post-COVID premium TV consumer behavior: a re-bundling of OTT services, a mix of subscription models, and the rise of live sports streaming
Shapiro asks Gruber about the changes he’s seen in consumers' consumption habits regarding premium TV in the post-COVID era.
Gruber says several things are occurring: a re-bundling of OTT services, a mix of subscription models, the rise of live sports streaming, and changes in distribution methods.
“We saw the cable unbundling, now we're seeing OTT re-bundling. I think there are a lot of fallbacks to what we know best about what's worked for many years. As the business models evolve and try to become profitable, organizations try to make sense of what consumers want. So, you're having that pendulum swing the other way. There's a lot of experimentation on [subscription models]. There are many ways of selling your content. It could be ad-sponsored, a combination of subscriptions, and everything in between. We're seeing a lot of experimentation. We haven't seen one win at all.”
He also notes that live sports streaming is now driving a lot of subscriptions. “You’re seeing spending in live sports, and large organizations are buying these rights. It is [an] anchor. It drives people in and then delivers additional content to keep them there between seasons or games. We're seeing sports pulling in net new dollars into the ecosystem of subscriptions.”
Regarding changes in distribution models, “There is a differentiation between media companies that create their content they can distribute through many channels versus an aggregator,” he says. “They're starting to act very differently, and their business models are starting to diverge a little bit. So we'll see a lot more people having and owning the content. [They] will have an easier time winning than somebody that's aggregating in some ways.”
What now shapes brand loyalty among consumers
Shapiro asks Giegengack if he agrees that consumers are differentiating between services that own their content versus ones that aggregate and if those are factors that drive brand loyalty.
Giegengack says that Hub Research has not noted a significant difference. “We have one study we do each year that looks at the branding of video and we compare the importance of a brand like Netflix or Max to the brand of TV shows or franchises like Yellowstone or Brought to You by Taylor Sheridan. During Covid, all the major streaming platforms had 95% or above awareness. That's when we ask, ‘Have you heard of this platform?’ But then we ask another question, ‘How confident are you that you could explain to somebody else what this platform does and how it differs from all the others? And you get radically different results for that. Netflix is still pretty high, with about 80% saying they're confident, but Apple TV+ is 45%.
“It's not because there's anything wrong with any one platform. It's just that they all look very much the same. When Netflix launched and had its own originals, they were the only ones doing that. So, they were kind of anti-establishment. But now, all these platforms have originals that are exclusive and expensive and have movie stars or movie directors doing them. So, it's hard for any platform to distinguish itself in some fashion, especially among people who haven't used it yet. It ends up being the content itself that people, that's the brand people often follow.”
Join us in February 2025 for more thought leadership, actionable insights, and lively debate at Streaming Media Connect.
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