DIGITAL LIFE

North American consumer ushers in new era in streaming: turnover

One of the beauties of streaming is that you choose what to watch whenever you want. And, unlike pay TV, you don't need to be tied to just one provider. There are some platforms and all with attractive prices, which do not weigh too much on the monthly budget.

But, like everything in life, streaming has its downside too. And what bothers people most today is precisely this great variety. And that value that seemed small becomes bigger, since you don't just hire one service. When you realize, you already have more than 6 subscriptions – and the final price is very similar to that of pay TV.

Story of your life? Yours and millions of people around the world. In the United States, where platforms have been established for longer, this accumulation of them has given rise to a new phenomenon, a kind of new habit among Americans: detachment.

Let me explain: as there are no fines for cancellation or extra fees for re-entry, people simply watch the films and series they are interested in and, after that, end their subscription. If the platform later shows a show they like again, they will subscribe again. And so on.

New times, new habits...This behavior was measured and proven by a survey recently carried out by the research company Antenna.

According to the survey, more than 29 million people canceled three or more services in the last two years.

This number represents about a quarter of total streaming subscribers in the US.

Antenna called these people “nomadic subscribers”.

And look how curious: around a third of them resubscribe to the platform within a period of less than 6 months.

According to Jonathan Carson, chief executive of Antenna, “in three years, this went from niche behavior to an absolutely dominant part of the market.”

And the tendency is to increase.

Antenna said nomadic subscribers tend to be a little younger and have a little lower income.

But this habit has been increasingly adopted by all economic groups.

It is true that this change gives consumers much more flexibility, but those who suffer are the platforms, which need a high investment to maintain films and series, but work with this instability of subscribers.

Traditional media companies like Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal and Disney lived in a kind of paradise in the days of cable TV, which was very profitable for them. Today, however, they suffer from streaming. NBCUniversal's Peacock, for example, lost $2.8 billion last year.

As a result, companies are reducing investment in programs, cutting their own productions and increasing the prices of their services. And yet sometimes they close in the red.

Given this situation, platforms are thinking about survival alternatives. In the US, Disney, for example, was relatively successful in bundling Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ into a single package.

The giant is also preparing to launch a sports streaming service in partnership with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery. It is expected to begin operating in the second half of the year.

Furthermore, brands have been running more and more promotions and betting on the “coming soon” feature to maintain their subscriber base.

It's not yet clear whether this will work. The only thing that is certain is that this consumer behavior seems to be here to stay.

mundophone