October 2, 2009 - We frequently query consumers regarding their satisfaction with their current PayTV service. This provides a good sense of pending shifts in consumer sentiment toward switching service providers or their demand for alternative video services.
For this Chart of the Week, we wanted to test a common hypothesis regarding TV viewing - that is, the more frequently a consumer views TV programming, the more likely they are to be satisfied with their PayTV service. The graphic below offers a crosstabulation of these two variables and, as illustrated, seems to validate this hypothesis.
Viewers that spend less than 5 hours each week watching TV programs have an average satisfaction level of 4.75 (on a 7-point scale with "7" being "Extremely Satisfied" and "4" being "Average Satisfaction"), a rate which improves as the number of hours viewed increases. In fact, the relationship is linear, with each greater level of TV viewing time correlated with a higher level of satisfaction.
Translation: those viewers most likely to be dissatisfied with their PayTV services are also likely to watch TV less frequently, meaning new TV services (e.g., OTT broadband TV) may not need a "500 channel roster" in order to compete effectively with incumbent PayTV offerings, at least with initial service converts. The challenge, rather, is to get the right combination of content for viewers who spend less time each week in front of their TV.
ShareThis