Did you know that streaming is mostly just in front of the screen? Or that the wish list is actually completely pointless? Eight facts about our streaming behavior.
1. 22.7 million Germans use streaming subscriptions
The Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung (GfK for short) not only knows that at the beginning of the year women preferred to stream the series “You – You Will Love Me” and men “The Big Bang Theory”. She also knows how many new subscribers the services can look forward to in Germany. In the first quarter of 2019, the number of paid subscriptions rose by nine percent (compared to the previous quarter) to 22.7 million .
48 percent of the market shares fall on Prime Video and 31.2 percent on Netflix , as Florian Kerkau from the market research company Goldmedia reported at Republica 2019. In actual, daily use, however, the ratio turns – then Netflix with 52 percent is clearly ahead of Prime Video with 36.7 percent. These numbers can also be verified by sharing user accounts (see point 7).
2. 1.9 million Germans stream illegally
Although the times of torrent sites and illegal streaming seemed to be over, the services and rentals still suffer a huge loss of around 700 million euros a year. Because 1.9 million Germans are still making the effort, hacking pay-TV signals and tormenting their way through shaky and blurry recordings from the cinema. This is mainly true of young men between the ages of 18 and 23 .
With the triumphant advance of streaming subscriptions, the topic has slightly disappeared from the public’s awareness. Because for the first time in decades there are enough legal alternatives. However, the multitude of new services could change that again: Because more and more originals are disappearing behind the payment barriers that are currently not activated by subscription.
3. 9 out of 10 items of content do not make it beyond the watch list
When did you actually watch the last film on your watchlist? Exactly, because that doesn’t happen as often as you might think. To be precise: only five to ten percent of the saved titles are streamed at all . And the longer a piece of content has been on the watchlist, the less likely it is.
It should come as no surprise that the watch list degenerates into a hodgepodge of bizarre things in times of on-demand access. A series was recommended here and the algorithm promoted a restart. Everything is saved – only what is missing is urgency and the right context. Because what you have saved once may never be as relevant again as with a quick click on “Save”.
4. Recommendation algorithms ensure 70 percent of all clicks
And another aspect speaks against the good old watchlist: Today, thanks to walled gardens and bingewatching, our feeds are so well tailored that we almost always find what we are looking for. YouTube’s Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan even fixed this to a number in 2018: 70 percent of all clicks can be traced back to the platform’s recommendation algorithm .
This also explains why the wish list is performing so poorly – it has simply become unnecessary. Because if the new suggestions are always better, more exciting and more relevant, then you simply never have to go back to your iron reserve and can save that for the really hard hours.
5. Kids-Content is a driver for streaming subscriptions
Much has already been written about the billions of dollars spent by Netflix and Co. A minority that is not that small is often left out: children. In 2019 alone, a total of 1.1 billion US dollars will be invested in animation series and other child-friendly content on Netflix – this corresponds to eleven percent of the total expenditure for Originals .
Anyone who lives in a household with children will know that the quality and scope of kids’ content in particular play a major role when choosing a fixed streaming subscription. And Netflix has set itself the goal of becoming a one-stop shop for every member of the family – everyone should find the right content for them.
6. Amazon wanted to buy Netflix for $ 16 million
Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph (initially held 30 percent of the shares, Reed Hastings 70 percent) recently published his memoir “That Will Never Work”. And in it he tells that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos himself wanted to buy the young DVD mail order company Netflix in 1998 for a bargain price somewhere between 14 and 16 million dollars .
At that time, Netflix was only two months old and should pave the way for Amazon into the video segment. But Randolph and Hastings had bigger plans. Because with the pivot for streaming and the focus on self-produced content, they were able to increase the company value to 119 billion today. Finally, in 2011, Amazon struck the provider Lovefilm, which they were able to gradually convert to Prime Video.
7. Every 7th US user shares their Netflix access
In their terms and conditions, all streaming services expressly object to the sharing of personal user data such as passwords – but they do not actively do anything about it. The number of unreported friends and family members who stream with a payment account is correspondingly high. One reason for this could be that groups tend to opt for the most expensive subscription, as this is the only way that multiple devices can access the catalog at the same time.
In a survey of US Netflix users, the analysts at Moffett Nathanson found that one in seven already shares their accounts . The information on the use of Goldmedia from point 1 indicates, however, that the number of shared accounts (at least in this country) should be much larger.
8. Streaming mostly happens alone
Often there is still plenty of space on the couch when we turn on the television in the evening. Only 39 percent of Germans stream with their partner and only 11 percent with their family. According to a survey by Next Media Hamburg, most people, at 48 percent, sit alone in front of the receiving device of their choice.
While linear television still (and in the case of GNTM, jungle and international football matches, probably rightly) uses the image of a shared campfire, streamers consciously make use of “when I want” television and watch when they want, what you want.
