Streaming Audiences Now Have Over 2 Million Titles to Choose From; Content Discovery Remains a Challenge
Nielsen’s ratings have held consistently good news for streaming platforms all summer long. The latest bit of encouraging information from Nielsen revealed that streaming had hit a record of total TV usage in the month of July, while linear TV dipped below 50% of TV viewing for the first time since ratings measurements began.
Customers have gained much thanks to the spread of streaming, particularly when it comes to the proliferation of content. A new survey conducted by Nielsen and Gracenote data analysis, there are more than 2.3 million individual titles available to stream in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico and Germany. Altogether, 86.7% of all available video titles are now housed on a streaming service.
Users also have a wide variety of sources from which to draw these video titles. The survey shows that there are nearly 40,000 individual streaming channels and services to watch in these countries, the majority of which originate in the U.S.
Predictably, this overwhelming amount of video sources has led to user struggles when it comes to finding something new to watch. Nielsen and Gracenote’s data shows that users spend an average of 10.5 minutes per session trying to find something new to watch. Critically, 20% of these browsers simply give up and decide to do something else besides stream TV because they grow frustrated at the amount of choices they face.
The survey notes that personalization will be a key differentiator going forward, especially among services that primarily offer free ad-supported TV (FAST) channels. Since these services usually offer many of the same free streaming channels as their competitors, offering users the ability to find their chosen content quickly will help services stand out from each other.
For example, 18 of the 25 most-watched streaming programs by U.S. women 18-34 in 2022 were classic TV titles as opposed to streaming originals. If users who watch FAST channels dedicated to series like “Grey's Anatomy” or “Gilmore Girls” and see those channels and related content more quickly, it will help services retain those users more effectively.
Ad revenue from ad-supported video on-demand (AVOD) and FAST is expected to hit $109 billion by 2028 according to Nielsen, and another recent survey found that 33% of all U.S. streaming customers use a FAST platform like Pluto TV or The Roku Channel. Personalization of channels and guides will become critical content discovery tools for these providers as customers increasingly use their services and as the amount of streaming titles rise.
