A new survey revealed that the majority of Americans now subscribe to four separate streaming services on average, up from three at the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic shutdown last year.
Results of the new J.D. Powers survey also revealed that U.S. consumers spent an average of $47 per month in December 2020 on video subscription services, up from $38 in April, as reported by Variety. Specifically, roughly 49 percent of respondents on J.D. Power's survey said that their households now subscribe to four or more streaming services. That figure was at 39 percent in April 2020. Of the 49 percent, 13 percent said they use as many as seven or more services, compared to only 8 percent in April 2020.
A second survey by MoffettNathanson, which was conducted with HarrisX, the average U.S. pay-TV household as of the end of 2020 subscribed to an average of 3.33 SVOD services while non-pay-TV homes subscribe to an average of two. Each company speculated in its finding that the increase has been fueled by the arrival of new streamers like HBO Max and Peacock, as well as a surge in memberships over the last year due to shutdown orders.
"When we emerge from this pandemic and people have less time to consume content at home, it will be intriguing to see how regularity of use factors into streamers' decisions to potentially unsubscribe from some of these services,” MoffettNathanson analysts, led by Michael Nathanson, wrote in their Q4 2020 SVOD track report released Friday.
About 81 percent of respondents on J.D. Power's survey said they subscribe to #1 streaming service Netflix, followed by Amazon Prime Video, which landed in second place at 65 percent. The remaining streaming services ranked as follows: Hulu grabbed 56 percent, Disney+ at 47 percent, HBO Max at 22 percent, Peacock at 18 percent and Apple TV Plus at 14 percent.
J.D. Power's survey also found that Disney+'s The Mandalorian was the most-watched TV show across all streaming platforms in December 2020, which increased the amount of time users spent on the platform from 4.8 hours per week in April to 5 hours per week in December. Among the streaming platforms mentioned in the survey, Netflix experienced the biggest decline from Spring 2020, dropping from 10.2 hours to 9.5 hours weekly.
While Netflix still seems to be the streaming service to beat, Netflix founder and co-CEO Reed Hastings recently revealed that he'd like the platform to be more competitive in the family-friendly animation category. "It's super-impressive what Disney has done," Hastings said about the success of Disney+. "It’s incredible execution for an incumbent to pivot…so that's great. And it shows that members are interested and willing to pay more for more content because they’re hungry for great stories."
The J.D. Power survey included responses from 1,745 U.S. adults and was conducted Dec. 16-19, 2020.
Source: Variety