Consumers remain steady in their love of streaming services, even after a 2.6% drop last year. Increasing their lead over competitors, streaming platforms gained 4 points to reach an overall 74% satisfaction rate, according to the “American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) Telecommunications Study 2021-2022”.
The study analyzed a variety of telecommunications industries, with TV subscriptions and video-on-demand (VoD) services being the only ones to make gains year over year. Most notably, Disney+ maintained its customer satisfaction lead with a 78% approval rating, while other heavy hitters such as HBO Max, Starz, and Apple TV+ all saw a distinct decrease.
“After bearing the brunt of customers’ ire last year, streaming services experience some much-needed stability. But this isn’t time to rest on their laurels,” said Forrest Morgeson, Director of Research Emeritus at the ACSI. “Thanks to the effort of the smaller subscription TV services, the entire industry sees a slight uptick in customer satisfaction, cutting into the streamers’ lead once again. We don’t expect streaming to be overtaken anytime soon, but ‘Stranger Things’ have happened.”
In the subscription TV space, satisfaction increased by 1.5 points to 66%, a stark contrast when compared with their streaming counterparts. Comcast’s Xfinity and DIRECTV both lost ground even as a country-wide increase in fiber optic cable implementation helped to maintain a solid infrastructure for cable-based services.
It appears that the slow growth of cable and satellite TV approval is coinciding with a shift in satisfaction scores for VoD and TV streaming services. This trend makes sense as VoD and streamers take more and more of the market share, increasing options to consumers while also providing live sports, news, weather, and shows that their competitors also supply. With subscription TV’s limited options to expand variety, traditional platforms will likely continue to be outpaced by streamers in the coming years.