You might think that declining subscriber satisfaction with the best streaming services was a given in the face of rising subscription prices, the introduction of more ads and increasing account restrictions, but new research suggests it's more to do with customers being less satisfied with what's available to stream.
A recent TiVo survey of close to 5,000 people in the US and Canada shows that subscribers are increasingly fed up with the quality of content available, reports Ars Technica. This trend has only become more pronounced over the past three years, with survey respondents' abilities to find 'moderate to good' stuff to watch falling from 78.6% in 2022 to 74.5% in 2024.
What's most interesting is which services subscribers are most unhappy with. A CableTV.com study from the start of the year that surveyed a similar group of participants revealed that Disney Plus, Hulu, Max, Netflix and Paramount Plus have all seen satisfaction rates fall this year – and that's no surprise with each platform raising subscription prices in 2024.
The outliers of this trend? Apple TV Plus, Peacock and Prime Video have all improved since 2023, with Apple TV Plus and Peacock in particular seeing consistent gains since the same surveys were conducted in 2022 and 2021. That confirms a trend that a Whip Media survey from 2023 first revealed, showing that smaller sized platforms are winning subscribers over more than their incumbent rivals.
Is the Peak TV era over?
FX networks' boss John Landgraf has been predicting the end of the peak TV era since 2022. He's been speculating that streaming services would have to start reigning in spending before the writers' strikes completely scuppered production in 2023 and signs of that increasing decline in originals being made have only grown.
We've since seen more cut-throat decisions from all the major streamers, in particular Netflix, which has ramped up its cancellations in 2024 – that doesn't mean you should completely disregard these though, here are seven cancelled Netflix shows still worth watching.
But arguably the biggest confirmation we've had that streaming services are no longer investing as much as in original movies and shows is that the number of new scripted series being released has dropped for the first time in 10 years, according to FX Research.
My biggest takeaway from this temperature check of the streaming space is that the behemoths need to switch up their strategies. Raising prices, ads and bundling isn't going to win over subscribers – even if we are seen as not complaining enough – content is.
This is where the likes of Netflix could really take a page out of its smaller rival's playbook. Its strategy of quantity over quality seems to have run its course with industry insiders telling Bloomberg that "most people in the film business don’t think Netflix makes good movies" and looking at some of its recent movies I'm not entirely shocked. It's high time we got Stranger Things and Black Mirror back.
