Buffering, High Costs, and Ads Lead SVOD Subs to Cancel Service
Subscription video-on-demand services are taking off, and here's another stat on their growing use: Two-thirds of U.S. consumers use an SVOD, and 52 percent of those watch an online service just as much as they watch their pay TV service.
That data comes from an IBM Cloud Video report titled "Everybody Wants to Rule the Streaming World." IBM Cloud Video is a platform created in January from the acquired companies Clearleap, Ustream, Aspera, and Cleversafe.
Viewers expect the same quality from an SVOD as they're used to from traditional TV, but often they don't get it. The report find that three-quarters of SVOD users report experiencing video buffering or slow stream starts. Also, 17 percent say their technical problems are so severe that they're considering cancelling their service.
But that's not the chief reason people leave their SVOD: The report finds that an abundance of ads is the most likely to drive customers away (27 percent), followed by high costs (25 percent). Next on the list comes a lack of quality content (20 percent), and then technical problems (17 percent). IBM found that 31 percent had cancelled an SVOD subscription.
To gather its data, IBM questioned 1,007 U.S. adults in April using an online survey. The full report is available for free (no registration required).
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