A new survey has found that 42% of adult consumers said they’d be willing to spend a maximum of $20 per month on streaming subscription, according to Phenix, a real-time video solutions provider.
The study, conducted online, would mean that a big share of people would be limited to one or two streaming subscriptions per person.
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Phenix’s Future of Streaming Report found as many as 40% of Americans don’t plan to live-stream this year. A big reason for resistance to streaming is delays or buffering, with 12% of those saying they’d be more likely to stream live content if latency wasn’t a consistent issue.
“This year, we saw everyone from platforms to networks to franchises heavily invest in streaming technologies,” said Stefan Birrer, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Phenix. “Even though the industry significantly advanced in 2017, claims of offering real-time capabilities are false and it’s because of major latency issues, especially at scale. ‘True-live’ has the potential to be such a key differentiator this year that original content is going to take a back seat to it, despite original content investments from tech giants like Apple and Facebook. In fact, consumers are already feeling a case of ‘content fatigue’ so platforms need to worry less about churning out a new show every week and more about providing consumers with what they want – live-streamed content that’s truly live.
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The top subscription choices for consumers who want to live-stream content this year, according to the study, were: Netflix (60%), YouTube (48%), Facebook (38%) and Amazon (37%). Less popular were Hulu (25%) and Twitter (12%).
“Right now, most platforms that provide ‘live streaming’ capabilities offer either scale or speed, not both,” Birrer said. “Yet, offering both is the only way to create a real-time experience, as well as the only way for it to be a market differentiator this year and beyond. Once achieved, providers will be in a better position to win more subscribers and reach untapped audiences.”
The study was conducted online by YouGov, with 1,128 adult participating Oct. 25 and 26.
