Over half of Americans with a streaming service (57%) believe that there are too many OTT platforms, according to a research published by Likewise, a smart recommendation app. The average streaming household has three streaming services and 70% of those surveyed agreed that despite having access to so much content, they often struggle to figure out what to watch next.
“The bottom line is that people need help figuring out what to watch and where to watch it,” commented Ian Morris, CEO of Likewise. “Streaming services are attempting to provide recommendations to their viewers, but only for shows on that particular service, leaving people frustrated as they are forced to hop from one service to another to discover and watch their favourite movies and TV shows”.
This research confirms that Americans are becoming overwhelmed when trying to decide what to watch and where to watch it. On average streamers are spending more than 15 minutes trying to decide what to watch before diving into their next TV show or movie. In fact, nearly one in five spend more than 20 minutes reviewing their choices whenever they are looking for something new to watch.
Furthermore, 49% say they spend too much time trying to find new things to watch and that number increases sharply for people with more services: 39% for people with one streaming service, 49% for people with 2-4, and 68% for those with five or more.
Over a third (36%) of users with more than one streaming service plan to cancel at least one of their current subscriptions within the next year. This increases to 59% for those that have five or more services.
“The explosion of content on the small screen is a double-edged sword for viewers,” added Morris. “We have more high-quality choices than ever before, but we’re wasting hours and hours looking for the next ‘Game of Thrones’ or ‘Stranger Things’. The onslaught of new streaming services combined with content shuffling from one service to another is making people frustrated. And our research findings suggest that their frustration is about to get far worse as the streaming wars kick into high gear with the launch of Apple TV+ and Disney+”.
We have more high-quality choices than ever before, but we’re wasting hours and hours looking for the next ‘Game of Thrones’ or ‘Stranger Things’” Ian Morris CEO of Likewise
