Surprise! Consumers Still Covet Discs, Blu-ray Players
28 Oct, 2015 By: Erik Gruenwedel
In a home entertainment landscape going over-the-top, consumers still prefer “non-linear” packaged media and DVR to consume TV shows and movies, according to London-based research firm . In a survey, 55% of respondents (aged 13-54) said they watch discs and recorded programming on the TV on a monthly basis — the highest usage level since 2010.
In addition, use of connected Blu-ray Disc players is up from 8% to 20% in the past five years, rivaling tablets and just ahead of digital media (19%) devices (i.e., Roku, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV), smart TVs (19%), smart phones (18%) and video game consoles (18%).
Indeed, 76% of respondents own a smart phone, but just 11% watch TV on it. Another 56% own a tablet, but just 10% watch a TV show on it.
GfK, in “Over the Top TV 2015: A Complete Video Landscape,” suggests content holders would be wise to contact Redbox ahead of the pay-TV window.
“Exclusivity of content in kiosks before streaming occurs would maximize revenue in a declining market,” read the report.
Meanwhile, the report suggests new OTT video services such as HBO Now are actually replacing HBO Go, the premium channel’s TV Everywhere platform for authenticated pay-TV subscribers. While two-out-of-three respondents expressed satisfaction with OTT video, ease of entry/exit underlines challenges services such as HBO Now, Sling TV, Spectrum TV, PlayStation Vue, Showtime, etc., have mitigating subscriber churn.
Not surprisingly, GfK singles out Netflix for its ability to generate original content and sustain subscriber interest. Netflix officially stopped reporting subscriber churn in 2011, saying it was immaterial to regulatory filings.
The report said Netflix’s domestic subs watch 10 shows and four movies per week — double the five TV shows per week in the same survey three years ago.
“Netflix is a TV ecosystem unto itself, and now an established force in the total TV marketplace,” David Tice, SVP of media and entertainment at GfK, said in a statement. “But it represents just one aspect of an increasingly complex OTT picture. The upshot is that OTT has now gone mainstream, and consumer expectations of control over their viewing experience continue to rise.”