Streaming services see steady growth in popularity

You turn on the television and are greeted with CBS news in the morning or perhaps ESPN. These two channels are the most popular on Cable TV, and many around the world enjoy watching their favorite shows on air or recording “Grey’s Anatomy” on DVR, anxiously awaiting a new episode. Well, the era of cable TV is over as streaming services take the stage as the new favorite among many. Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Peacock, HBO Max, and Amazon Prime have all made their ways into a majority of household tv screens.

Streaming services have seen steady growth over recent years as the primary way to view shows and movies. In the second quarter of 2022, there was an 88% increase in streaming service users after seeing absolutely no growth in the first quarter according to Precedence Research. After streaming growth was halted in the first quarter due to inflation, consumers stopped adding subscriptions all together. Now, streaming services have transformed from a way to avoid cable TV ads, to now ironically putting up with much more ads just for the easy accessibility one has to almost any show or movie. But this was not an immediate upturn. Many viewers were extremely frustrated with the growth of advertisements and promotions on services such as Amazon Prime. However, the pros very soon outweighed the cons as HBO Max saw a market share in 20% of U.S. homes in the past few months according to Kanter.

Over the years, a wide variety of streaming services have become incredibly popular which brings up the debate of how to settle on the best one. HBO Max is regarded as one of the most “satisfying” services, and people are very happy with the content and subscriptions they sign up for. This is because it captures two unique and important tiers of streaming which includes SVoD (paid ad-free streaming) and AVoD (paid ad-supported streaming). Netflix has also managed to save many viewers from canceling subscriptions after other services started to include more popular content.

This growth does beg the question as to what is wrong with a good old satellite? Why this immediate shift to streaming services? Many would say it is more affordable and has more customizable options. Despite cable having many more channels and high quality content, many agree it is not worth the confusing and expensive contracts. Being able to watch all cable channels means that one’s bill will be pretty high at the end of the month.

Streaming services are being downloaded in IGTV programs. One does not need any cable or receiver whatsoever. After downloading IGTV, one can download multiple streaming services and watch them interchangeably as they please. As we go “out with the old and in with the new,” TV streaming services are becoming a staple in many American households because of their affordability, flexibility, and convenience. According to Kaser, it is expected to see much higher rates of AVoD streaming and more consumer up-turn given the growth of marketing strategies that have been sustaining and allowing these TV services to thrive without slowing down.