The consumption of content via streaming has become a global trend, especially in recent years, driven by the pandemic and social isolation. In Brazil, watching content on demand has become a habit, placing the country among the five largest streaming consumers in the world.
But at the same time that they had many followers, there are also mass abandonments: about 7 in 10 Brazilians (71%) subscribed to streaming platforms, but 52% of them canceled the service a while later.
Of those who canceled, 24% left Netflix, in addition to others such as GloboPlay (23%), Amazon Prime Video (15%), Telecine Play (14%), Disney+ (13%), HBO MAX (6%).
The data are from the survey Streaming 2022 driven by Hiboua company specialized in market and consumption research and monitoring, carried out digitally with 1106 Brazilians from all over Brazil, in the period between April 9 and 10, 2022. The result has a margin of error of 2.9%.
House of the Dragon is one of the examples of HBO original content – Image: HBO
“We can say that streaming has consolidated itself as the main entertainment channel during the period of social isolation, but this was already an imminent trend. The format dominated Brazilian homes and consumers became more demanding”, says Ligia Mello, research coordinator and partner at Hibou.
For 70% of respondents, new content available is the main reason for accessing platforms, especially new movies and series releases.
In fact, Ligia says that investing in original content is a way to attract more consumers — still according to the survey, 70% of Brazilians, who cite original series as a differential.
“To keep active subscribers, platforms need to increase their catalogs or invest in authorial content, even because the market has become competitive with the emergence of competitors”, comments the specialist.
Of the 70% who like original series, the majority (77%) prefer series where all episodes are released at once, so they can marathon; 13% like to review their favorite series; 7% like the spaced releases (episodes released weekly) and only 3% say they don’t watch the series.
Contents and streaming
Among those who are not attached to new content, the preference is divided between series that are being commented on by everyone (44%), availability of classic films (32%), documentaries (29%), classic series that are no longer on air (26%), children’s content (16%), soap operas (10%), anime (6%) and sports (5%).
Among the main requirements for maintaining the subscription and also choosing the best service are: variety of movies and series (76%), price (65%), good app navigation (40%) and content for the whole family (38%). %).
In addition, there are other items that are analyzed and make the balance tip towards one or another service, such as:
- Suggestions of what to watch well targeted to my taste (34%);
- Original platform content (25%);
- Specific app for my smart TV (18%);
- “watch together” function for those who are in another house (14%);
- Function to refer/share content with a friend (6%);
- Content with famous artists and directors (6%);
- Brazilian productions (6%).
Price, by the way, is one of the main reasons for canceling (24% of former subscribers reported this motivation). As for 23%, the cost versus benefit is no longer worth it, 15% felt the lack of more launches, 12% indicated a catalog with few options or titles that they did not like, 11% switched to another service, 6% shared a bad experience in platform and 4% joined someone else’s “family plan”.
The “price” item also includes services that add value when there are additional channels, with accesses not included in the conventional monthly fee. In this case, the extra payments for exclusives do not please 74% of Brazilians.
These consumers are against the modality because they consider that all content must be included in the monthly subscription and only 13% are in favor of the model because they believe that the value per month remains lower and, whoever is interested, subscribes to the extra content.
Netflix is among the main services subscribed by Brazilians – Image: Thibault Penin/Unsplash
In terms of services, there are two players that currently dominate the scenario in the country: 91% of Brazilians subscribe or subscribe to Netflix and 53% subscribe or subscribe to Amazon Prime Video.
In addition to these, the following were also mentioned among the respondents: GloboPlay (30%), Disney+ (26%), HBO MAX (20%), Telecine Play (13%), YouTube Premium (9%), Star+ (8%), Paramount+ ( 6%) and AppleTV (4%).
Content consumption x device
Almost a third of the population (29%) does not use online streaming platforms for movies and series and the main reason is: content is consumed by means other than streaming. Thus, 38% are not used to watching television and, therefore, are not interested in consuming content via streaming; 19% find the service too expensive; 13% prefer to watch YouTube; 12% give preference to open TV channels; 12% admit to borrowing someone else’s login; 4% prefer to download movies/series on the Internet and 5% point to other reasons.
“It is interesting to notice that cable TV has a market share among those who do not consume content via streaming: 34% say they pay for these services and do not see the need for another subscription”, adds Ligia.
