Mike Peterson
The vastness of content choices on streaming platforms is becoming overwhelming for U.S. consumers, though new data suggests that they have no plans to cut back.
Nearly half of all streaming service users in the U.S. — 46% — say they feel overwhelmed by the amount of programming available, according to a new "State of Play" report by analytics firm Nielsen.
The numbers don't lie when it comes to choices. Nielsen says that there are 817,000 unique programs across various streaming services, including TV series, movies, specials, and more. That's a 26.5% increase of nearly 171,000 titles since the end of 2019.
Despite that, consumer appetite for content is still going strong. According to the survey, 72% of Americans say that they love their user experience with video streaming services. A majority — 93% — said they either plan to expand the services they use or make no changes to their existing subscriptions.
The increase in streaming service choices has also driven a rise in time spent watching content. Consumption of streaming content reached 169.4 billion minutes in February 2022, an 18% year-over-year increase. Streaming accounted for 28% of total TV usage in the past 10 months.
With the amount of choices, users want an option that makes finding and viewing content from different services easier. 64% of respondents said they'd be interested in a bundled service that allows them to access different platforms, but only if they were able to choose which ones.
The survey was based on a sample of 1,394 U.S. adults aged 18 and over. It was conducted in English between Dec. 2021 and January 2022 via online survey.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
Andrew O'Hara
William Gallagher
23 Comments
I am in the minority on both fronts... I do not love the experience and plan on reducing my streaming services from one to none (adios Apple TV+). This also reflects my general distaste in paying for TV. I cancelled my cable service 15 years ago and have not missed it (nor have I missed the bills!).
“Television is chewing gum for the eyes” - Frank Lloyd Wright
one of many great Wright quotes. The point being, be careful how you spend your time when you could be doing other things. That said, having streaming services is a good thing. But it’s only worth so much time and money.
One can suddenly realize that the incremental adding of another streaming service can make the total monthly bill for viewing choices far more expensive than the local cable service that probably also provides the internet access. Unfortunately, where we live, there is only one cable provider and one telephone provider. There is NO competition so their rates go up on whims because their service sure has not gotten any better.
We fired the telephone company (which could also provide slow DSL) because they just never had time to fix our line. The noise was so loud it was unusable. If one traces the money back, the culprit is basically AT&T.
When true Verizon 5G gets to us, the cable company that we get internet service from will be gone too.
The USA is getting ripped off by the fee schedules as compared to other countries. We had an apartment in the UK and there was a choice of many providers at different price points even though there was only one set of wires coming into the home.