IBB Consulting Group: OTT Users Willing To Invest in Subscriptions

In a survey of 1,051 U.S. online consumer adults that subscribe to at least one paid OTT service, IBB Consulting found that a majority of SVOD subscribers (61%) are willing to spend $2 or more to keep their favorite service and (81%) are willing to spend to add a new service that had content they found interesting. Details about these findings are available in the report “Paid OTT Video Services: Research & Insights Into Growth Opportunities & Consumer Behaviors,” available for download via IBB’s website. 

IBB Consulting’s latest research and analysis of the paid OTT market reveals engagement with SVOD, plans to add and spend on new services, and interest in live OTT subscription content. Additional key takeaways include:

More than half (51%) of paid OTT users subscribe to more than one SVOD service, with 18% paying for three or more. Younger demographics, especially millennials, are more likely than any other demographic to subscribe to three or more paid OTT services.  Millennials are more likely than any other demographic to be willing to spend on live streaming content; and 29% of paid OTT video subscribers plan to add an additional paid service within the next six months.

Based on average SVOD pricing, a majority (61%) of SVOD subscribers are willing to pay at least 20% more for their favorite service; Interest in live TV is strong, with nearly half (47%) of paid streamers willing to pay beyond their current subscription costs to add live content.

“There is continued increasing demand for SVOD, and having the right tools and data to find and engage customers when they’re ready to buy is critical in this competitive market,” says Jonathan Weitz, partner, IBB consulting. “When IBB works with clients on SVOD marketing strategies, we emphasize that essential components of a world-class offering are a high-quality viewing experience with compelling features and an attractive interface, instant access to a diverse set of flagship content, and easily findable ancillary programming that feels familiar but offers new content to discover.”

As paid OTT users evolve in their willingness to seek out and buy new services, so does their viewing behavior and demands. When it comes to finding content, one-third of users say they prefer browsing and surfing, 24% rely on suggestions from social media, 19% get recommendations online and 13% rely on either in-app recommendations or search tools.

“Almost half of consumers’ preferred discovery options require that OTT providers offer features that support a better experience,” says Weitz. “This means that in addition to improving how paid OTT providers market to new users, they must also take steps to ensure that offerings are easy to use. With constantly expanding libraries, strong human curation and effective recommendation engines driven by machine learning, in particular, are key to the overall SVOD customer experience.”

IBB Consulting advises media companies that a subscription OTT offering must either launch as a world-class offering or evolve quickly to meet this standard. Paid OTT services have the potential to become revenue centers that lay the foundation for future offerings.

Commenting on the demands of market competition, Weitz says, “Today, SVOD services must look incredible, function smoothly and deliver consistently outstanding customer experiences. And as OTT becomes more international, differentiation on a global scale is even more essential. This requires a solid marketing strategy for scaling user bases and mitigating churn. IBB recommends that SVOD services implement comprehensive plans that include span segmentation, programmatic, cross-channel attribution, email marketing, and push messaging and CRM.”