Brightcove Study Explores Streaming Trends

Brightcove’s 2018 Global Consumer Streaming Habits Survey has found that a free trial is the lead factor in convincing consumers to try out a new streaming service, ahead of interest in a specific show or exclusive content.

Consumers were surveyed in the U.S., U.K., France, Spain, Australia, Germany, Canada and the United Arab Emirates. Among the respondents, 58 percent stream content at least once a week on a smart TV or external device, 51 percent on a mobile device and 50 percent on a computer. Among millennials, mobile is the leading platform for streaming at 73 percent, followed by smart TV/external devices at 72 percent and computers at 65 percent.

When assessing whether to sign up for a new service, consumers listed cost as the leading factor (53 percent), followed by their interests being catered to (31 percent). Consumers will try out a new streaming service because of a free trial (42 percent), a particular show (38 percent), exclusive content (29 percent), cross-device capability (28 percent) and a good user experience (26 percent).

Respondents listed too many ads (37 percent) and poor image or video quality (35 percent) as being the main reasons for abandoning a live stream, followed by buffering (33 percent) and the live stream crashing (32 percent).

TV is still the top device to consume regularly scheduled news (68 percent), regular season sports (69 percent), breaking news (54 percent), special sports events (66 percent), concerts (53 percent), and fashion shows (45 percent).

“Across all generations, consuming online video is now an integral part of our daily entertainment routines,” said Sara Larsen, CMO of Brightcove. “Today, we’re seeing technology-savvy consumers stepping into decision-making roles, making it even more critical to understand the motivations behind these decisions. As the industry leader in online video, it’s our job to help our customers be successful with their video strategies, and with that comes staying on top of consumption and buying trends across generations. Today’s reality is every generation is consuming online video more than ever, so we want to ensure our customers have the knowledge and data needed to reach massive cross-generational audiences in a way that allows them to better connect with their viewers.”