Panel OTT Subscription Growth Deep Dive: Finding and Acquiring the Next Million Subs
As of December 2021, 80% of US households were subscribed to at least one SVOD with about 35% churn, according to a Deloitte study. This data was quoted by Jon Goodstadt, Senior Sales Executive for Roku during his keynote at the “OTT Subscription growth deep dive: Finding and acquiring the next million subs”, in the framework of the first day of the Stream TV Growth Summit virtual event.
In the US, consumers are subscribed to an average of four SVODs, so for Goodstadt personalization is key to enlisting and retaining them, and net growth is also key to winning the streaming war.
He indicated that it is important to follow the streamer’s journey to enroll and connect with them. “There are four key moments to interact with this streamer: when installing the service when searching for content when viewing content, and through all the connected devices that surround the streaming experience”, he said. In the US there are an average of 25 devices connected at home.
Goodstadt was joined by a panel including Nada Arnot, Senior VP of Marketing for BritBox North America; Carolyn Ferreira, Head of User Acquisition at Philo; Nicholas Oppenneer, Head of Product Growth for Sling TV; Alp Pekkocak, Global Head of Industry and Product Marketing, Media and Entertainment at Salesforce, moderated by Peter Fondulas of Hub Entertainment Research.
All agreed with Goodstadt on the importance of personalizing the service and making content recommendations.
Regarding the boom of services – in the US there are 6.4 paid TV services per home – and the risk of saturation, Ferreira de Philo said that they are trying to educate their consumers about the value of the platform, “We don’t offer gimmicks, we don’t have monthly contracts,” he said.
Arnot said that for them it’s easier than for general streaming platforms. “We don’t compete with general SVODs. We are placed in a very particular position, because if you want to see British programming, you go to our service”. The large SVOD has contributed to giving more visibility to British content “which is helping us to create awareness about our service and gender,” he noted.
The executive of BritBox North America highlighted that mystery and crime dramas are the most searched for on the platform
Regarding free trials, promotional rates, packaging of services, with contract or without a contract, and the existence of a cheaper tier with ads; the panelists said that for niche services the free trial is useful. On his part, Oppenneer said the promotional rates are only offered at certain times of the year or for a specific event.
