Indian viewers find streaming platforms complicated, frustrating: Report

They find more than 60 per cent of the paid content not relevant to them. Nearly 70 per cent of those subscribing to multiple streaming services in India expressed frustration with their viewing experiences, according to an Accenture report.

The ‘Streaming’s Next Act: Aggregators to play a starring role in making consumers happier’ report surveyed 6,000 consumers in 11 countries to understand their preferences, beliefs, and behaviours vis-a-vis their video streaming experiences.

Report says 46 per cent spend more than six minutes searching for something to watch. Additionally, consumers in India felt that more than 60 per cent of the content they pay for is not relevant to them.

Nearly 81 per cent wished that their profile from one service could be shared easily with another that may offer better, more personalised content.

Saurabh Kumar Sahu, Managing Director and lead for Communications, Media and Technology practice, Accenture in India, said, “As the video streaming segment has matured, consumers are increasingly finding the experience complicated, expensive and hard to use.”

“Evolving consumer preferences and tough economics will create challenges for video streaming platforms. To win in this competitive space, the ecosystem needs a major reset, in addition to providing consumers greater control over their viewing experience,” he added.

The report says there is frustration over navigating the growing number of services as consumers care more about the content delivered by them.

“Content aggregators can address this concern by unifying access across streaming services through application software, services and data-sharing agreements,” the report said.

“Aggregators can also foster flexibility and personalisation for viewers by serving as a single platform with curated content that enables them to select exactly what they want to watch,” it added.

“Till now, most Indian OTT platforms have tried to differentiate through content and majority of their investments have gone into flagship titles. With changing viewing patterns, this needs to change and factor in scenarios like shared viewing,” said Neeraj Sharma, managing director – Communications, Media and Technology, Accenture in India.

“For the next phase of growth, these platforms need to focus on improving consumer experience and product features,” Sharma said.

Considerations for companies

Fostering consumer engagement
The report asked companies in the streaming entertainment ecosystem to consider added options — from video, music and podcasts to gaming — to help develop deeper consumer relationships.

It says companies must decide whether they want to be an ‘integrator’ or ‘the integrated’ in order to either shape distribution deals to entice ‘subscription video on demand’ (SVOD) and ‘advertising-based video on demand’ (AVOD) services to participate, or partner with the entities vying to be the preferred integrator.

“Start planning for a distributed data model. Invest in data privacy and make that commitment known to your consumers, so they are confident sharing data that is critical for integration and personalisation services,” it further suggested.

Companies must also be ready to look beyond SVOD and AVOD services to consider music services, podcast and e-book services, video games, home security, food delivery services, among others.

“Engage in experimentation. Players with data-driven experimentation at the core of how they operate will be far more ready and nimble to adapt to changing consumer preferences,” it said. The Hindu BusinessLine