COVID-19 Spurred More Streaming Service Adoption, Subscription Hopping: TiVo

The average number of video services per person grew 35% year on year, to 6.7, among broadband-only subscribers, reported TiVo Wednesday. The average number of services per pay-TV subscriber was 6.9, it said. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, “shifting consumer patterns in the video service landscape are proving to be more than mere anomalies,” said the report, based on 4,526 responses to a Q4 survey done for TiVo by a third-party company. “People are adjusting to a new normal.”

In addition to their pay-TV subscriptions, 31% of consumers also paid for Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, said the report. Twenty-three percent added Netflix and Prime Video purchases or rentals, while 22% added Netflix and YouTube. About 20% also paid for Netflix and Disney+. Among pay-TV subscribers with four services, 13% also had Netflix, Prime Video and Hulu, the same percentage as those who paid for Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+.

Among broadband-only subscribers, the top three-service bundles were Netflix, Prime Video and Prime Video purchases and rentals (20%); Netflix, Prime Video and Hulu (19%); Netflix, Hulu and Disney+ (19%); and Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ (17%). Among those with four services, 12% had Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu and Disney+.

TVs are “overwhelmingly” the preferred screen for viewing subscription VOD (71%), ad-supported VOD (54%), virtual MVPD (58%) and network apps (43%), said the report. Smartphones came in second, followed by PCs and tablets. Respondents preferred watching streaming content via media players such as Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and Chromecast (46%) compared with smart TVs (28%), set-top boxes or digital video recorders (13%), game console apps (6%) and Blu-ray player apps (1%), it said.

Sixty-three percent of respondents owned at least one smart TV; 22% bought one in the past six months. Half were replacing a non-smart TV; 40% were upgrading from one. By brand, Samsung led at 40%, followed by LG (17%), Sony (10%), TCL (6%), Vizio (6%), Hisense (6%), Insignia (2%), Toshiba and Onn (2%).

Subscription hopping is prevalent during the pandemic, TiVo said, with 25% of respondents saying they added at least one new video subscription during the COVID-19 period; 15% canceled at least one. Reasons for adding services were more time spent at home (63%), an offer or deal (38%), a specific show on that service (36%) and entertainment for kids (26%).

Reasons for canceling a video subscription were COVID-19 impacts to income (45%), budget tightening (39%), not watching enough (35%), limited time to watch (28%), viewed all they wanted to watch (26%), wanted to switch to a different service (17%) and lack of sports (10%).

Among services, 14% of respondents added Netflix, 7% canceled; 9% added Disney+, 4% canceled; 8% added Amazon Prime Video and Hulu, 5% canceled; 6% added YouTube TV, 3% canceled; 6% added AT&T Now, 3% canceled; 5% added pay TV, 4% canceled; 4% added Hulu + Live TV, 2% canceled; and 3% added CBS All Access, 2% canceled.

Pay-TV customers spend about $111 per month for their video bundles, including internet service, said the report. They also spend an average $21 per month on transactional VOD video rentals or purchases from services such as iTunes or Google Play, it said.

SVOD customers’ average monthly spend is $27.72, $20.98 for TVOD users. Broadband-only subscribers pay about $5 more a month than pay-TV subscribers for their SVOD services, it said.

Uncertain times boosted local TV viewing, with 83% of survey respondents deeming local news important, up 10% from 2019, said TiVo. Broadband-only customers reported spending an average 19% percent of their daily viewing time watching local content, up 5% from Q1 2020.

Most respondents (83%) said canceling paid services and using free AVOD services is a good way to save money, and 79% preferred AVOD streaming vs. subscribing to another paid service. Eight in 10 wanted SVOD services such as Netflix and Prime Video to offer an AVOD option. But the quality of AVOD content is an issue for consumers: 80% said the TV shows and movies on free streaming channels aren’t as good as those on paid services.

Nine in 10 respondents were interested in being able to view, browse and search all of their available content from a single guide or menu, 38% are “extremely interested.” Similarly, 88% wanted to pay for all their video services from a single guide or interface, rather than navigating a website or apps to pay separate bills; 30% were “extremely interested.”

Six percent more consumers were aware of the voice search capabilities of their devices vs. the 2019 period, said the report. Forty-two percent of respondents said at least one of their devices has voice search; 29% used them. It takes nine minutes on average for someone to find a TV show or movie to watch by typing into a search box, 12 minutes by voice, it said.

Consumers are getting more comfortable letting virtual assistants complete more tasks and have access to more of their personal information, said the report, but comfort levels vary dramatically by context. Nearly half said they were comfortable letting a virtual assistant read and modify their calendar or initiate a phone call (48%), but far fewer were comfortable letting them remember bank card information or Social Security numbers (23%) or check bank account balances (24%). Over half had used a virtual assistant such as Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant or Cortana, but of those, just 56% allowed their device to learn their voice, it said.