If we magically got two more hours every day, what would you do with the extra time? 35% of people might use it to watch more Netflix. That comes from a survey of more than 6,500 people on the negatives of the surge in streaming, especially with the upcoming services: Disney+, Apple TV+, HBO Max, NBCU’s Peacock, Discovery Streaming, and Quibi, just to name a few.
Here are some of the highlights:
85% currently subscribe to MORE than one streaming service. 34% say they DON’T plan to add any new services, but 42% say they’ll add one, and 20% will add two. 4% are maniacs, who plan to add “three or more new services.”
70% think there will soon be TOO MANY streaming choices. And 87% are worried about it becoming too expensive. In fact, it’s such a concern that almost half (44%) would accept some ads to save money.
Outside of ballooning choices and cost, the key frustrations include: Having to constantly toggle between services (67%), account setup and management (58%), and the inability to easily FIND what you want to watch (45%).
35% say there aren’t enough hours in the day to watch all this content, yet 17% think the quality of content is decreasing. That’s probably because more people seem to value licensed movies and shows over “originals.” Netflix, for one, seems to have shifted its focus to its own stuff.
90% said it’s “important” or “very important” for a service to have good licensed movies and shows, while just 68% said the same about original content.
For what it’s worth, Disney+ and Apple TV+ have the highest levels of awareness among the upcoming services (88% and 63%, respectively), followed by HBO Max (37%) and NBCU’s Peacock (28%).
Disney+ would easily have the biggest library, which includes Marvel and Pixar. Apple TV+ has the benefit of launching first, as it becomes available this Friday. Disney+ launches in a couple weeks, and the others are coming in 2020.
(Interestingly, the field of LIVE TV streaming just got smaller. Sony has announced it’s shutting down PlayStation Vue, which was a competitor of YouTube TV and Hulu Live.)
