SVOD subscribers are building bigger bundles as more of them are willing to pay for three or more services.
According to new data from 451 Research’s Voice of the Connected User Landscape survey, 19% of streaming subscribers are paying for three or more services—up 4 percentage points annually. Of the respondents in this group, 95% are starting out with Netflix, 82% are starting out with Amazon Video, and then adding a combination of SVOD platforms including Hulu, HBO Now and iTunes.
Out of all respondents, 79% pay for Netflix and 53% pay for Amazon Video, which has grown 5 percentage points over the past year.
While access to movies (50%) and viewing complete seasons of TV shows (45%) are the top reasons cited by consumers for paying for SVOD services, 33% of streaming subscribers chose their service for its original content. That figure is up 8 percentage points year over year. Past VoCUL surveys have illustrated the importance of original content among HBO and Showtime subscribers but original content among Netflix and Amazon Video customers is growing now at a faster rate over the past two years. During that time, the amount of Amazon Video viewers who say original content is the most important feature grew from 7% to 31%, versus 20% to 32% among Netflix viewers.
“Netflix and Amazon have spent billions creating exclusive original content to differentiate themselves within a competitive streaming TV market, and our latest surveys show that it’s resonating with customers. Viewing original content has become a much more important factor over the past year in choosing streaming services, and the data shows consumers are simply watching more of it,” said Andy Golub, managing director of 451 Research's Voice of the Connected User Landscape end-user surveys and research, in a statement.
RELATED: Netflix originals 8 times more popular than Amazon’s, study says
Despite the subscriber growth both Netflix and Amazon are experiencing due to their respective investments in original content, not all of the content is being equally embraced by the public.
According to a recent study by Parrot Analytics, demand for Netflix originals is on average 8 times higher than that for Amazon’s originals.
Meanwhile, demand for Netflix’s originals is 9 times higher than Hulu’s and nearly 60 times more than Crackle’s, according to the same study. Of course, part of that has to do with the fact that Netflix has more than 50 original titles, compared to the seven that Crackle produced.