Report: 87% of Internet Homes Have Streaming Subscriptions; Cycling Behavior Not Going Away
When Parks Associates speaks, the industry listens. The market research firm is one of the leaders in uncovering and reporting new trends in the streaming video space, and on Tuesday, the company released new data that confirms that streamers will have to rethink the way they operate to remain successful going forward.
Parks’ data shows that 87% of broadband-equipped homes in the United States now have at least one streaming subscription. That’s another sign that the streaming market has essentially hit the ceiling of its addressable market, since it represents only a small increase from the 85% of households that reported having a streaming subscription in 2022.
The numbers reinforce a survey from earlier this week that showed the increase in the number of streaming subscriptions dropped by nearly half last year. All signs point to the fact that — domestically at least — streamers simply don’t have that big of a pool of new users to draw from.
The numbers from the new Parks report also show that the next struggle for streaming services will not be in raking in new subscribers, but in retaining the subscribers they already have. Nearly half of all subscribers reported canceling one service to sign up for another in the past 12 months, a behavior known as “cycling.”
Streaming providers face significant challenges in putting a halt to cycling. Nearly 70% of U.S. adults report they are considering cycling in the next year, and with so much content now available it’s harder and harder for streamers to make the case that users should stick with them. There were 599 original scripted series released in 2022 across linear TV and streaming services, so how can streamers stand out amongst their peers when there’s so much to watch?
In a word, franchises. At a rate of 48%, respondents to Parks’ survey cited content or a specific show as the primary reason they subscribed to a new service. A study from earlier this month showed that customers frequently use franchises to differentiate between streaming services, and that Marvel was the biggest draw of all. That was certainly good news for Disney+, but also for other media providers like Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery, which have both made commitments to more franchise content lately.
Streamers would do well not to simply lean on their popular IPs to ensure customer loyalty, however. Thanks to the ease of cancelation built into a streaming subscription and the breadth of content offerings across the industry, it will take a little creativity to keep customers engaged in the oncoming Age of Cycling.
Disney+
Disney+ is a video streaming service with over 13,000 series and films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, The Muppets, and more. It is available in 61 countries and 21 languages. It is notable for its popular original series like “The Mandalorian,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Loki,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and “Andor.”