Why are viewers flocking to shows and brands rather than platforms?

As video providers proliferate, viewers are excited about the volume of shows to choose from. But, according to Hub Entertainment Research’s latest research, increasingly they face a logistical problem: with so much to choose from, how do they decide what to watch from a vast sea of options?

The report notes that streaming marketers have done a good job of driving awareness: even the newest platforms boast brand awareness of more than 90%. But value propositions are another story: far fewer consumers feel confident they know what makes one SVOD brand different from the others. And as viewers feel the pinch of inflation, a reason to keep one provider instead of others becomes more and more important.

In January 2023, 41% of respondents said in the past year they had signed up for a new streaming service just to watch one show (up from 35% in 2021). It is an even bigger factor among the most valuable segments: 57% of those under age 35 have signed up to watch one show and among households with kids it is 54%.

●  CREATING A DISCOVERY “CHAIN”

The most common reason that people drop a streaming platform is that they “ran out of things to watch.” Massive content budgets were a “brute force” method to make sure that did not happen, but in 2023 providers must do more with less. Leveraging the brands of key IP is a powerful way to do just that.

For example: in January 2023, 29% of respondents said they had watched “Yellowstone”. Of those, 70% said they had gone on to watch one or more of the shows related to “Yellowstone.” That number is good by any standard, but it is especially impressive when you consider the effort implied: “Yellowstone” can only be watched on cable or Peacock, while all those other shows require a subscription to Paramount+.

“Content has always been king. But as the streaming ecosystem gets more crowded, the role of IP branding on which platforms viewers sign up for and keep is more direct than ever. And at a time when mitigating churn has become job one for providers, valuable IP will be more valuable than ever,”  commented Jon Giegengack, Principal and Hub Founder.