Most Customers Don’t Sign Up for Niche Streamers Directly, Opt for Third-Parties
Antenna provides some of the best market research in the streaming and TV industry. The firm has been hard at work in September, releasing its new “State of Subscriptions” report with an emphasis on specialized streaming platforms that target smaller audiences such as AMC+, BET+, Britbox, and others.
The data shows that primarily, users access these streamers through third-party platforms like Prime Video Channels. Antenna’s numbers demonstrate that 66% of all subscriptions to these streaming services have come through Prime Video Channels alone in 2023, and only 8% of customers go to the streamer directly to sign up. For comparison, only 9% of premium subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) subscriptions like Paramount+ have come through Prime Video Channels this year.
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On the one hand, this isn’t great news for specialty streamers. The fact that so few customers are willing to go to those services directly to sign up is an indication that users don’t think of them as indispensable. None of the specialty streamers on Antenna’s list rated highly among “essential” streaming platforms as determined by an Aluma survey earlier this year, and the less essential a streamer is, the easier it is to cancel when streaming costs climb too high.
Another recent survey from Antenna shows that churn rates are climbing everywhere in the streaming industry currently. The price of SVOD plans without ads has risen 25% in the past year, and as streamers continue to search for enhanced profitability costs for consumers are expected to continue rising.
On the other hand, the fact that so many customers are accustomed to thinking of these streamers more as add-ons than as platforms in their own right could be helpful in the coming age of aggregation. Premium SVOD services like Max or Netflix that are looking to add content from these streaming services will be getting small, but highly dedicated audiences along with the titles themselves. That instantly makes them more attractive to potential buyers when the time comes.
It doesn’t hurt that these niche services are growing their audiences at a faster rate than premium SVODs. The same Antenna survey shows that specialty streaming services have a compounded annual growth rate almost three times higher than that of services like Netflix, demonstrating that targeted audiences will flock to a platform that gives them the content they want most.
In the end, Antenna’s data shows that these smaller streaming services should lean into their roles as super-servers of specialized content. Distributors like Prime Video Channels clearly help them attract more customers than they would if they tried to stand alone, and streamers like Acorn TV and Shudder may be easier to market to larger streaming services thanks to their popularity on third-party platforms.
Shudder
Shudder is a streaming video service specializing in horror, thriller and supernatural fiction titles. The service has a vast library of both classic and contemporary films as well as new, original programming such as Wolf Creek, and Slaxx. Shudder also benefits from content courtesy of AMC including Eli Roth’s History of Horror and fan-favorite zombie survival series The Walking Dead. The platform is available to users in the U.S., Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Australia, and Ireland.