by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer
Source: www.mediapost.com, April 2023
Content discovery has always been somewhat of a chore for TV consumers — especially now, among streaming consumers.
LG Ad Solutions says it takes almost six minutes on average to select a piece of content after turning on a TV set. It did not offer up any earlier data on search times for comparison.
At the same time, 45% of streaming consumers agreed there are “too many content choices,” while another 40% say there is “confusion on where to find content.”
Is any of this good news? It might not be so much for TV consumers — but it definitely is for TV streaming marketers.
Tony Marlow, chief marketing officer of LG Ad Solutions, says in a release: “This presents a great opportunity for streamers to leverage smart TV home pages for content discovery.”
Marlow says much of this content discovery, naturally, comes from 40% of viewers who are pitched recommendations on their smart TV’s home page. He reckons that all this activity will continue.
But perhaps just in the short term, I would guess.
There is, as many analysts know, a maturation of the streaming market. In addition, LG has said, in an earlier report, that consumers are cutting down on the number of subscription services.
Almost 50% of streaming consumers have canceled a service to save money. This comes from a survey of 750 U.S. consumers in March 2023. Another near 60% are willing to cancel a subscription after finishing their desired content.
Other analysts found that this is because of consumers focusing on one ongoing key TV series — or perhaps one special big event movie that has already been released exclusively in theaters.
All this content discovery remains a major issue as streaming consumers can have anywhere from three to five services or more. That means switching between one service content discovery home page and another.
While there are a number of website-oriented services out there for consumers to figure out where TV shows are airing — as well as those that offer suggestions, niche genres, and other key TV and movie content descriptors — it is still a hodgepodge of ways and time spent in figuring out what someone might want to watch on a given night.
