Premium video streaming is in trouble. The growth of the wildly successful Disney+ has slowed considerably, Walt Disney company reported as part of its earnings. It posted a figure of 118.1 million subscribers. While that makes it among the largest in the world, new subscriber additions have almost disappeared. The company blamed the problem on fewer people being locked in their homes by the COVID-19 pandemic. Netflix, the industry leader, recently posted a similar slowdown.
There are two theories about the challenge the industry faces. The decline in COVID-19 cases has allowed people to return to theaters. The other reason could be that there is an increase in competition. More and more large media companies have decided to launch services of their own. The industry has become tremendously fragmented. Research demonstrates that the average American subscribes to four services. However, many more than that are available.
The quality of streaming services has also become an issue. The widely followed American Customer Satisfaction Survey looked at streaming services as part of its telecommunications study. The study was done between April 20, 2020, and March 29, 2021. The sample size was 37,907 people.
While streaming services continue to be favored over telecom services, that edge has started to disappear. The authors of the study commented: “While consumers still prefer streaming above all other telecom industries, its stranglehold on the segment is slipping as its lead over the next closest industry shrinks to just 3 points.” The quality scale runs from zero to 100.
Some of the results are unexpected. The average service received a score of 74. Industry leader Netflix scored 75. The other leader in subscribers, Amazon Prime Video, posted a score of 74. Amazon’s video service is part of its Prime paid program for customers, which includes other perks such as free shipping of products bought at Amazon.com.
The streaming service with the best score is Disney+ at 78. While there is no exact reason given for this, Disney+ does have a tremendous movie library from Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel.
At the very bottom of the list is Crackle, a service few people have heard of. It posted a score of 68. It is owned by Chicken Soup for the Soul and was once a part of Sony.
These are the worst and best streaming services:
- Disney+ (78)
- Microsoft Store (77)
- Twitch (Amazon) (76)
- HBO (AT&T) (75)
- HBO Max (AT&T) (75)
- Hulu (75)
- Netflix (75)
- YouTube TV (Google) (75)
- All Others (74)
- Amazon Prime Video (74)
- Apple TV App (74)
- Google Play (74)
- Starz (74)
- CBS All Access (ViacomCBS) (73)
- Vudu (Comcast) (73)
- Apple TV+ (72)
- AT&T TV NOW (72)
- Showtime (ViacomCBS) (72)
- Sling TV (DISH Network) (72)
- Peacock (Comcast) (71)
- Crackle (68)
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