Key Takeaways

• According to a report from Deloitte, the average subscriber has two paid music services and four paid video streaming services.
• The Morning Consult found that the most popular streaming platform genres among consumers from the United States are comedies, action movies, and dramas. 
• The most popular streaming platform in North America is internet-connected television (30.8%), followed by mobile devices (16.3%), Amazon Fire TV (15.4%), Roku devices (14.3%), gaming consoles (12.8%), and Apple TV (11%).
• According to a survey by Nielsen, the most important video streaming attributes are its cost (84%), ease of use (81%), and variety/availability of content (79%).

Introduction

Streaming Services Consumers

• According to a report from Deloitte, the average subscriber has two paid music services and four paid video streaming services.  
•  Eighty-two percent of U.S. consumers have "at least one paid video streaming service".
• A survey published in 2021 found that 47% of Americans, aged 13 and over, are subscribed to an audio service (the term, "audio service", in this instance, refers specifically to streaming platforms such as YouTube Music, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, and more).
• A survey conducted by Verizon Media and Publicis Median found that 56% of Americans say that they are "overwhelmed" by the abundance of streaming services that they could select from.

Genres

• According to Morning Consult, the most popular streaming platform genres among consumers from the United States are comedies, action movies, and dramas. 
• To provide global context, consumers from the United States, Brazil, and India most favored comedy, while South Korean, Japanese, and French consumers were less enthusiastic about this genre.
• In the US, 71% of consumers consider action programming important when choosing a streaming platform, the same value drama programming, and 75% – comedy programming.
• It is worth noting that the preferences differ slightly between TV series and movies. Among US Netflix subscribers, in 2021, drama, comedy, and crime were the top TV show genres. For movies, crime was replaced by action.
• In a survey that included over 30,000 respondents from seven countries, the US among them, the most popular genres to binge watch were serialized drama (87% of binge-watchers), situation comedy (40%), and non-serialized drama (29%).
• While country-level data for the most popular genres is not available, US consumers are more likely compared to other countries to binge-watch competition reality (with 17% doing so) and lifestyle/food/travel/home & garden content (12%).

Devices Used to Stream

• According to Statista, the most popular streaming platforms in North America are internet-connected television (30.8%), followed by mobile devices (16.3%), Amazon Fire TV (15.4%), Roku devices (14.3%), gaming consoles (12.8%), and Apple TV (11%).

 

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• In the US, around 87% of consumers own a connected TV device, and 46% watch it daily. These figures have been rising since 2012, with connected TVs being especially popular among younger generations.
• According to a survey by Roku, 75% of advertising-based video-on-demand (AVOD) viewers use more than one device when streaming, which gives companies an opportunity to reach them through cross-screening.

Motivations

• According to a survey by Nielsen, the most important video streaming attributes are its cost (84%), ease of use (81%), and variety/availability of content (79%).
• Forty-eight percent of survey respondents say that they are "worried" about the financial toll brought on by streaming services subscriptions, while one in two streaming service users shares logins in order to lower expenditures. 
• A different study by PwC found that consumers take interest in streaming services due to the ease of use (55%), knowing that they will always find content to watch (35%), and the top-notch quality of the content (27%).

 

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Younger Generations Tend To Cancel And Resubscribe

• In the United States, the churn rate for paid streaming video services is high. Deloitte's 2022 Digital Media Trends report notes that a customer's age is indicative of whether they are to cancel and resubscribe at a later time.

• One explanation for this behavior is that younger generations have less disposable income compared to their predecessors and may simply sign up just to binge specific shows that they are keen on before canceling to resubscribe at another time.

 

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• However, it is worth noting that subscriber churn is constantly relatively high among all generations. The 37% rate shown in the chart above has been stable since 2020.
• Deloitte also observes that consumers are likely to abandon a service even if they are satisfied with it. Even for their favorite offering, below 40% state that they couldn't live without it.
• At the same time, according to a study by PwC, there are several actions that inspire users to keep a subscription, such as a price discount (for 64% of consumers), additions to the library of movies (54%), fewer ads (50%), more "classic" movies and TV series (39%), and "new content that was refreshed at a faster rate" (38%).

Watching Preferences

• Previously referenced binge-watching is a habit closely associated with streaming. Over 60% of US video streaming consumers define it as "watching multiple episodes of a particular show back-to-back in one viewing session."
• In the US, 6.3% of people binge-watch over 10 shows in a month, as per the survey by Whip Media. At the same time, 57.6% prefer binging on most or all entertainment shows. The reasons for doing it include being really into the show (66%) and enjoying the experience (53%).
• Furthermore, 72% of US consumers believe that all show episodes should be released at once, compared to 28% who favor weekly releases.
• Content that can be binge-watched is an important factor when choosing a streaming platform for 53% of consumers. 32% have canceled a subscription due to the lack of TV series to binge on.
• Binge-watching has increased significantly – by 54% – during the pandemic.

Research Strategy

Key Takeaways

•  73% of people in one survey reported positive feelings from binge-watching.
• People enjoy binge-watching because they see it as relaxing, want to find out what happens next, identify with and develop relationships with the characters, become addicted to the dopamine released, and can escape stress.
• Negative consequences of binging may include sacrificing sleep, disconnection or social isolation, loss of control over the number of episodes watched, unhealthy eating habits, and more.

Introduction

In Numbers: People Reporting Positive Feelings Binge-Watching

•  73% of participants in a Netflix survey reported positive feelings from binge-watching.
• Similarly, 80% of adults see binge-watching as relaxing.

•  70% of consumers and over 80% of millennials in the US binge-watch television content. Of those, nearly a third are binge-watching weekly.
• People are watching an average of five episodes per binge, with the younger millennials averaging six, and people over 69 averaging four. TV dramas are the most popular content to binge-watch.
• 30-44-year-olds are the biggest binge-watchers in the US, at 70%, according to 2020 data, while 65+ are least likely to watch multiple episodes in a row, at 41%.

Why Binge-Watching Causes Positive Feelings

• The top reason people decide to binge-watch is wanting to see more of the story (87%), followed by liking the cast (81%), and seeing it as relaxing (80%).
• When binge-watching, dopamine is released, encouraging people to continue with the behavior and receive more dopamine. This leads to a drug-like high and a pseudo-addiction to the show and craving the dopamine. Various research studies have found that people are motivated to binge because of the instant gratification, stimulation, and hedonistic needs.
• Character bonds is another reason people enjoy binging. The brain doesn't distinguish between real life and television content, and so people can become attached to characters and genuinely care about the outcomes of conflict. People can identify with characters - seeing themselves reflected in them, or experience wishful identification where they can be immersed in a fantasy of characters and plot. People can also feel a close connection to characters, in a similar way to a real life friendship, called parasocial identification. Finally, there can be a perceived familiarity with a character trait, such as a strong female, which can boost self-esteem.
• People can also use binging as a stress-management tool. It is a way to shut out stressful thoughts and pressure.
• Binging is highly immersive, and that transportation to a fictional world can lead to high emotional and cognitive engagement with the narrative and characters. Researchers identified narrative transportation and narrative completion as two key motivators. Sensation seeking and cognitive activity are key motivators but can also boost the effects of other binge-watching motivations.
• Other research has found that people are especially drawn to binge-watching when a series is recommended by someone, and that binging is seen as a way to meet people's desire for enjoyment, efficiency, control, and fandom.

Variables that Effect the Binge-Watching Experience

• Netflix found that viewers are devouring (binging quickly) high energy narrative series, while taking their time with thought-provoking dramas.
• People are more likely to enjoy binge-watching if they do it less frequently. More frequently engaging in the activity tends to be associated with feelings of loss of control, and dependency. Similarly, other research found that people who binge-watch less frequently, do it for the entertainment value, while people who do it more often are trying to pass time.
• Social engagement and accessibility also impact people's experience. People will often watch a series as soon as they can in order to engage with others, to avoid spoilers, and because of fear of missing out (FOMO). Interestingly, researchers found that people who experience negative gratification, anxiety, or nervousness after a session are more likely to spend more time binging, and become more addicted to the behavior.
• People who are very motivated to complete a series, are less likely to regret the time spent binging. This is because this kind of motivation involves self awareness and attentiveness, and therefore more control and less regret.

• Young adults binge-watch on their laptops more often than on television.
• When people binge-watch, they prefer to watch the full season in one go, rather than pacing it. See image below.

 

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Dangers of Binge Watching

• People are sacrificing sleep in order to binge-watch, with 52% of adults surveyed staying up all night to finish a show.
• People can feel down after a show finishes, but also experience disconnection or isolation because they are substituting shows for real-life relationships. One psychologist referred to that as emotional starvation from the growth that comes with more difficult, real-life bonds.
• Survey data has found that people do tend to binge-watch alone, and over 70% of them lose control in terms of the number of episodes watched in a single sitting.
• There is a relationship between binging, and negative habits or states such as neglecting work or social relationships, putting off going to bed, being overweight, and unhealthy food consumption.
• People who binge-watch will retain less of the plot than watching episodes one at a time (this is called the spacing effect), and people who watch a show in weekly installments rate the program more positively than those who binge.
• Regularly spending more than four hours watching television or binging can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease or early death by 50%. An American Heart Association (AHA) study found that the type of sedentary behavior makes a difference, and sitting and watching television is more harmful than, say, a desk job.

 

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