There’s no bottomless appetite for streaming video services after all.
While most of the research on the over-the-top and SVOD markets lately has pointed to robust growth, as
well as a near sky’s-the-limit type of potential, a new report from GfK offers a bit of counterbalance, with findings that consumers might have reached their threshold on what they’ll fork
over each month for entertainment on-demand.
The research firm reported in a newly released survey of U.S. consumers that Netflix, Amazon Prime
and Hulu subscribers already pay at or close to the “maximum monthly fees they feel these services are worth.”
If that data point remains true, GfK says the streaming services may
need to consider layering in ads to cover the costs of their original productions and exclusive programming deals, since they might not be able to reach the revenue they need without upping monthly
fees.
Apparently, $10 to $11 a month is the most consumers want to shell out for such services, the report found.
That’s due in part to the reasons why they subscribe. Consumers
aren’t initially lured by the original or exclusive content that these services often spend millions on.
GfK said programming “not available on any other service” ranks only
9th among reasons that people subscribe, cited by a little less than half. The most important reason consumers sign up for a streaming service is cost, cited by 75% of respondents, while
“availability of specific programs” was second at 69%, and the “availability of new movies” was third, at 68%.