These are some complaints about the streaming video landscape
These are some complaints about the streaming video landscape
Netflix’s customers were enraged last week by news that it would crack down on password sharing. The company has since walked that back, saying it posted the new restrictions accidentally.
But according to research from Oxford Economics, streaming customers have a lot more to be grumpy about — like too many different streaming options and somehow, nothing to watch.
If “The Sopranos” ushered in the Golden Age of TV, shows like “Stranger Things” and “White Lotus” are marks of the surplus era, “where we are so overwhelmed,” said Brandon Katz, who follows the entertainment industry for Parrot Analytics.
Even five years ago, he says most customers only needed one or two subscriptions. “It wasn’t really quite the ‘hunger games’ of entertainment via internet delivery that we have today,” Katz said.
In today’s fractured landscape, Katz said couch potatoes like himself have to shell out a lot of money to keep up with the most popular shows and movies.
According to Sundus Alfi at Oxford Economics, all those options don’t necessarily translate to customer satisfaction.
“When you sign off work and you try to find something to watch, takes more than 10 minutes, you get frustrated then you’re done with this,” Alfi said.
Oxford Economics’ survey of customers found they want everything in one place.
“Whatever streaming service I’m consuming my shows or movies, on that home page I want to see my music, my e-commerce, maybe messaging apps,” Alfi said.
To hold on to subscribers, she says streamers will have to make themselves indispensable.
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
