Customer churn is a dreaded reality for streaming products that don’t require service contracts, and it could be that some SVODs are being hit harder with it than others.
That’s according to Juniper Research, which released a new study suggesting Amazon Prime and HBO Now are feeling the brunt of customer cancellation rates in the U.K. and the U.S. The study said churn rates are reaching 2.9% for Amazon Prime and a whopping 19.2% for HBO Now in key markets.
Meanwhile, Netflix appears to be attracting and keeping more of its subscribers. Juniper said Netflix is showing positive adoption rates of 6.3% in the U.S. and 77% in the U.K.
“The use of multiple subscriptions suggests that no one provider offers enough to currently satisfy consumers. Juniper finds a growing danger in users reducing, or switching SVOD subscriptions, as monthly fees inevitably rise as a result of ever-increasing content spend; Netflix alone is set to spend $13 billion this year,” said Juniper Research author Lauren Foye in a statement.
RELATED: OTT service cancellation rates holding at 18%, Parks Associates says
Juniper cited curation of content as a key concern for SVODs seeking to retain their subscribers moving ahead. The firm suggested that integration partnerships could be an answer for SVODs, citing Netflix’s deal to get onto Sky’s Q platform, which is similar to deals Netflix and Amazon Prime have done with Comcast in the U.S.
Last month, Parks Associates released new research suggesting cancellation rates for over-the-top services have held steady at about 18% for the past three years.
“With OTT service penetration starting to plateau at around 65% adoption among U.S. broadband households, the OTT video market is reaching a level of saturation for the services currently available to consumers,” said Hunter Sappington, research analyst at Parks, in a statement. “In an increasingly crowded and competitive marketplace where subscriber acquisition costs are high, this plateau highlights the need for services to focus on retention rather than solely acquisition. Successful services can encourage retention in several ways, such as community building, continuously offering new and fresh content, and improving their user experience.”