We ‘just can’t get enough’ as more Canadians opt for video streaming
More Canadians than ever are signing up for video-streaming services to supplement their traditional television subscriptions, says a new survey that points to consumers’ preference for as much choice as possible when it comes to what they watch on their screens.
Just shy of half (49 per cent) of Canadians with TV subscriptions also streamed video from Netflix, Shomi or CraveTV in the past year, up from 42 per cent in 2015, according to consumer insights firm J.D. Power’s annual TV and Internet customer satisfaction surveys released Thursday.
Netflix was by far the most popular, with two-thirds of survey respondents using it to complement their TV service, compared with 16 per cent for Shomi and nine per cent for CraveTV.
The rise in streaming comes as traditional broadcasters vie to hold on to customers who are increasingly cutting their cords, with major cable companies Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. reporting a loss of about 26,000 TV subscribers each in their most recent quarterly reports. (BCE Inc. and Telus Corp., however, added subscribers to their fibre TV services.)
But J.D. Power’s Adrian Chung believes the newly mandated “skinny TV” packages, which the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission demanded companies introduce on March 1, and the upcoming pick-and-pay rules allowing people to choose individual channels, will keep customers satisfied and tied to their TV providers.
Of the 9,000 TV customers surveyed, J.D. Power found the happiest were those who had adopted the $25-per-month skinny packages with add-ons.
“People are more satisfied having that flexibly, paying incrementally for channels they actually want,” Chung said.
Chung anticipates people will be equally pleased when the pick-andpay rules come into play on Dec. 1, as more choice tends to lead to more satisfaction and whether a customer takes the deal. But he doesn’t think customers will flock to the new system quickly because it’s more limited.
“Some people just can’t get enough,” he said, noting the appetite for streaming services on top of TV subscriptions and the fact that customers with premium packages reported the second-highest level of satisfaction.
While J.D. Power’s survey found the skinny TV packages mustered consumer approval, the CRTC plans to hold a public hearing this fall over concerns the offerings don’t meet the spirit of increasing consumer choice.
Only 100,000 people have subscribed to the skinny TV packages thus far, according to the CRTC, a mere fraction of the approximately 11.6 million TV subscribers in Canada. In a note to investors, Desjardins analyst Maher Yaghi said the slow uptake indicates the plans won’t have much impact on revenue in the short term, especially since most users buy additional channels.
Meantime, more than four million Canadians have signed up for Netflix since 2010, according to various estimates. (Netflix does not release its subscription numbers by country, but its international business is booming. It recently reported a 57 per cent jump in international revenue from this period last year.)