Streaming subscriptions jumped during lockdown, but they could soon decline

[midian182]

In a nutshell: With so many people around the world stuck in their homes, the Covid-19 lockdowns were a boom time for video streaming companies. According to a new study, more Americans now subscribe to these services than ever before, but that could soon change.

As reported by Variety, the 14th annual edition of Deloitte’s Digital Media Trends study included a survey conducted between December 2019 and January 2020—before Covid-19 spread around the world—and a second survey in May 2020 when the lockdowns were in effect.

In the pre-pandemic survey, about 73 percent of US consumers said they subscribed to at least one paid streaming service. In May, that figure jumped to 80 percent.

Back in March, it was reported that streaming companies had seen an uptick in users, with Disney+ tripling its subscriber numbers in one week. The surge led to Netflix’s stock hitting $426.75, putting its market capitalization ahead of Disney. The industry leader’s shares are now at $468.04, giving it a value of $205.85 billion.

But with multiple paid subscription options now available, “subscription fatigue” may lead to more people canceling and moving to ad-supported, free options, says Kevin Westcott, vice chairman of Deloitte and US telecom, media and entertainment leader.

With a looming recession and job uncertainty, many consumers are tightening their purse strings—39 percent of those surveyed said household income had declined since the pandemic began. Streaming services will likely be aware that the number one reason (36 percent) for canceling is high costs.

As incomes go down, more consumers are turning to ad-supported streaming options. With more than 300 individual subscription-video platforms in the US alone, Westcott said: “The industry can’t just keep adding new paid subscriptions.”

Other findings of the survey include subscribers being drawn to those services with a broad range of content and exclusive or original shows. It also revealed that about one-third of consumers said they would not be comfortable attending live events for the next six months, with millennials (50 percent) and Gen Z (47 percent) more willing to attend shows than boomers (28 percent).

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https://www.techspot.com/news/85735-streaming-subscriptions-jumped-during-lockdown-but-they-could.html

 

[wiyosaya]

Maybe these streaming companies will get the message the people are not willing to pay the prices demanded by cable and satellite companies. Maybe, but I doubt it.

Most of these companies have popped up like you know what trying to profit from the fad - with the impression, or so it seems, that streaming is a fad rather than people revolting against way over-priced crappy service - such as my own reasons to go to streaming. I am not into wasting money on stuff I never use.

 

[EClyde]

OH Brother

 

[Nobina]

I could've gotten way more out of quarantine but at least I didn't spend most of it getting stream fatigued while binge watching some ****. That would be disgusting.

 

[DZillaXx]

You don't need to pay for all services all the time. That is the perk of streaming services. About once or twice a year I get HBO for a month and binge anything I've missed. The service otherwise does not justify the monthly cost year round.

I pay year round for netflix, Prime, Spotify, Disney+. My Wife is currently in school so we get the student version of Spotify which includes Hulu and Showtime. Also have Apple TV+ with the free year that came with the misses new iphone.

It comes out to around $30 a month excluding Amazon Prime, as I charge that to my work (I order a lot of stuff for work using prime). I get much better content than what you get with cable. As Cable users still need to get these streaming services. Nearly all the tops shows every year come out of streaming services like Netflix and Amazon. Little Cable only content makes getting cable worthless to someone like me.


The entire perk of Streaming services is the freedom of choice. For $15 a month you could get netflix, or you could get hulu with ads and disney +, etc. The cost of an internet subscription is the only thing you need these days. Sadly low cost low options seem to be scarce. With the Avg min internet cost is around $45-50.

 

[wiyosaya]

You don't need to pay for all services all the time. That is the perk of streaming services. About once or twice a year I get HBO for a month and binge anything I've missed. The service otherwise does not justify the monthly cost year round.

I pay year round for netflix, Prime, Spotify, Disney+. My Wife is currently in school so we get the student version of Spotify which includes Hulu and Showtime. Also have Apple TV+ with the free year that came with the misses new iphone.

It comes out to around $30 a month excluding Amazon Prime, as I charge that to my work (I order a lot of stuff for work using prime). I get much better content than what you get with cable. As Cable users still need to get these streaming services. Nearly all the tops shows every year come out of streaming services like Netflix and Amazon. Little Cable only content makes getting cable worthless to someone like me.


The entire perk of Streaming services is the freedom of choice. For $15 a month you could get netflix, or you could get hulu with ads and disney +, etc. The cost of an internet subscription is the only thing you need these days. Sadly low cost low options seem to be scarce. With the Avg min internet cost is around $45-50.

I just wait for the content I really want to see to come to disk and my local library. Then I borrow it and watch it for at most, a one-time fee of $0.50 if the disk had to be borrowed from a library in the system other than my local one. In doing so, I am also supporting the library system. Our library has an extensive collection of movies and tv shows on disk. When I can get Blu-ray, I do as the quality is also far better than streamed content.

Could I afford to do what you suggest? Yes. However, there is no guarantee that I would be able to watch all I would like to watch by doing that. Using the library, in most cases, I can renew the loan until I have been able to watch all the content. I do have Hulu and Netflix, but the rest of them - there is just not enough of interest to me on them to spend any money on them at any time.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Or maybe, just maybe, more people are figuring out that streaming services are asking WAY too much for what they offer, and a good half of what they offer (in particular netflix and amazon prime) are junk, and that video media in general has stagnated hard in creativity for years now. There's not much appealing in many newer shows and the older stuff, well, how many times do you want to watch the same stuff? The services are also so segmented that much of what you may want to watch isnt available on ANY platform.

 

[CPO2U]

Ever since I left Comcast and went with Verizon Internet only for a fraction of the price, here's my situation:

• HD Antenna (6-7 clear channels) = free
• YouTube = free
• TubiTV = free
• PlutoTV = free
• Sony Crackle = (you guessed it) free
• Netflix = $12 (though I am closing my account in 2 months)
• Amazon Prime Video = Bundled with Prime, which I do take advantage of. But being unemployed means I'll have to let my subscription lapse.
• CW = phree
• CWSeed = free, baby
• 130 eBooks = free town
• 900+ digital comics = (almost) free
• 550+ physical comic books in my attic next to my murder victims = free beer
• A dozen or more fun podcasts = phree
• Sitting in my yard, watching squirrels and people = totally free (does this count? Maybe not, but it's an entertaining 10-15 minutes a day)

Total expense on streaming (not including Verizon FiOS service) = just under $25/ month

At the pace I consume media, I could keep going and never run out till the day I die. And maybe even past my kid's life as well. I dunno why anyone would pay $100+_for cable these days.

PS: I don't really have any corpses in my attic, I just wanted to see who was paying attention