Amdocs research reveals streaming consumer expectations for 2024

Ad-Based Content, Gaming and Beyond: Amdocs Research Reveals Consumer Expectations Leading Into 2024’s Streaming Landscape

JERSEY CITY, NJ — Amdocs (NASDAQ:DOX), a leading provider of software and services to communications and media companies, today released new research on the current state of streaming and changing consumer preferences around their experience.

The New Streamer 2024, conducted by Dynata and commissioned by Amdocs, surveyed US consumers to understand sentiment of streaming offerings and identify opportunities for providers to build stronger brand loyalty with customers. The findings show that while most Americans are feeling the squeeze of the rising cost of entertainment subscriptions, original content, active experiences like cloud gaming and more customized offerings can help providers improve overall customer satisfaction.

As streaming providers continue to compete for customer loyalty, 90% of consumers want better control over their experience. Findings show consumers would prefer to create and pay for a package that is limited to only content they are interested in instead of paying for access to an entire library they may never fully explore. Additionally, most Americans (82%) want a single portal or app where they can access all their streaming subscriptions versus searching for content across various apps.

The survey also uncovered insights into streaming’s hottest trends, ads, service costs and content. US findings include:

• Thoughts on ads? It’s complicated.
  • Overall, 38% of consumers are opposed to seeing more ads, while 45% are open to it. However, younger generations are much more open to seeing more ads, including Gen Z (36%), Millennials I (43%) and Millennials II (50%).
• Contrary to popular belief, cost isn’t everything
  • The price of streaming services doesn’t impact loyalty to an entertainment provider today (25%) as much as it did in 2020 (38%).
  • However, consumers are expecting improved experiences with increased costs.
• New, original content is a top want from consumers, but older titles aren’t far behind
  • Consumers say original content is the most important consideration (72%), with new content every few weeks (59%), access to older titles (55%) and being able to watch anywhere (49%) also being top factors.
• More choices, more problems
  • Nearly one quarter (22%) of consumers report feeling overwhelmed by the number of streaming subscriptions they have.
  • This feeling is most present amongst Gen Z (41%).
• “Streaming” is evolving beyond simply watching
  • Two-fifths (40%) of general consumers and 54% of gamers believe that cloud gaming will become a dominate way to play games in the future.
  • Consumers would welcome new cloud gaming options; 52% would be likely to try a new service beyond just current offerings from Microsoft and Apple if a brand like Netflix were to offer it.
• More in-depth experiences require a more capable network
  • Over the past year, nearly half of consumers (49%) have encountered connectivity issues while streaming movies and TV shows.
  • Although the majority of general consumers don’t frequently engage with cloud gaming services, 10% of all respondents reported experiencing lag when utilizing such platforms.

“Customer expectations for entertainment breadth and quality continue to grow, but needs are increasingly nuanced,” said Anthony Goonetilleke, Group President of Technology and Head of Strategy, Amdocs. “Customers are looking for increasing control over their entertainment experience, and at the same time, ready for content innovation that next generation connectivity, coupled with AI, may enable.”