New research from video cloud services provider Brightcove analyzes global consumer consumption preferences across generations when it comes to live and on-demand streaming video content.
According to the firm’s 2018 Global Consumer Streaming Habits Survey, 58 percent of respondents stream content at least once a week via a smart TV or external streaming device, 51 percent on a mobile device, and 50 percent on a computer or laptop. Millennials (19-36 year olds) lead the way in all categories reporting 72 percent, 73 percent, and 65 percent, respectively.
When analyzing all consumers’ (aged 18+) online video habits and preferences, the report found:
- The most influential factor for consumers who are considering a new streaming service is cost (53 percent), followed by their interests being catered to (31 percent).
- The top five reasons consumers will try out a new streaming service include 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).
- TV is still the top device to consume content on (other options included mobile and computers) for regularly scheduled news (68 percent), regular season sports (69 percent), breaking news (54 percent), special sports events including title fights and championship games (66 percent), concerts (53 percent), and fashion shows (45 percent).
- Advertisements and technical issues are the key spoilers for live streaming experiences, with too many ads (37 percent) and poor image or video quality (35 percent) being the top reasons for respondents having abandoned a live stream, followed by buffering (33 percent) and the live stream crashing (32 percent).
“Across all generations, consuming online video is now an integral part of our daily entertainment routines. Today, we’re seeing technology-savvy consumers stepping into decision making roles, making it even more critical to understand the motivations behind these decisions,” said Sara Larsen, CMO at Brightcove, in a news release.
“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,” Larsen added.
When analyzing Millennial online video streaming preferences, there were four takeaways to highlight:
- 44 percent of Millennials describe themselves as “browsers” when looking for something to watch, while 26 percent of Millennials think of themselves as decisive.
- Millennials feel far more satisfied consuming content through streaming service providers: 68 percent feel streaming service providers continually provide content they want to watch, compared to 55 percent who feel the same of broadcast networks and 53 percent for cable networks.
- 11 percent of Millennials would embrace a subscription-based model to consume sports content, and 24 percent would embrace an ad-based model.
- 63 percent of Millennials share their streaming logins with at least one other person.
All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 10,502 adults from the US, UK, France, Spain, Australia, Germany, Canada, and UAE. Fieldwork was undertaken between September 5th and 27th, 2018. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all US, UK, France, Spain, Australia, Germany, Canada, and UAE adults (aged 18+).
