Almost half of US consumers with an SVoD and pay TV subscription watch their streaming services as much as, or more than, cable, according to a study of streaming habits by IBM Cloud Video.
According to the study of 1,000 US consumers, almost two thirds of adults have used an SVoD service. Some 72% of Millennials with b oth SVoD and cable watch the SVoD service as much or more than their cable service.
Some 72% of SVoD customers take Netflix, according to the survey, with 14% taking the next most popular offering, Amazon Prime, and 7% taking Hulu. Access to more content is the primary reason for taking an SVoD subscription. In the case of Amazon Prime, however, only 14% signed up specifically for the video servie, with the majority attracted by shopping benefits.
The survey found that 42% of SVoD customers shared their password with family members, but only 4% shared it with others. Six per cent of SVoD viewers admitted to using someone else’s password to view content, although 27% said they had borrowed a password to try a service before subscribing. Amazon Prime customers are much less likely to share passwords than others, probably because the service also gives access to one-click shopping.
Thirty-one per cent of respondents said they had cancelled a streaming service, with Hulu and Amazon customers more likely to cancel than Netflix users. Reasons to cancel included too many ads, cited by 27%, cost, cited by 25% and lack of good content, cited by 20%. Technical reception problems were cited as a reason to leave by 17%.
Technical problems are common, with 49% saying they had experienced buffering, and 24% saying they had experienced delays in content starting.
