When it comes to streaming services, Apple TV+ made by far the biggest gains in customer satisfaction and likelihood to keep a service, fueled by audience enthusiasm for its slate of original series, according to a new survey by Whip Media.
The study says that, following its recent price increase and facing greater competition from rivals, Netflix ranks last in the industry in terms of perceived value. This appears to have fueled its recent subscriber losses in the U.S.
Whip Media says the contrast in perceived value between HBO Max and Netflix is “stark,” as HBO Max emerges with a clear lead over Netflix and most other SVODs across virtually all satisfaction and loyalty measures.
Whip Media surveyed nearly 2,500 users of its TV Time app in the U.S.
to uncover their satisfaction with, and perceptions of, streaming services. The survey was fielded with 2,460 US TV Time app users from April 29 to May 4, 2022. All results were weighted to balance with the US general population by gender and age (18-54). The 2021 survey was gender and age balanced for 13-54.
Subscribers were asked to evaluate each of the SVODs [streaming video on demand services] in terms of the quality of their original series, library series and movies. For these three types of content, HBO Max and Disney+ clearly lead in top two box satisfaction (very satisfied or satisfied).
Viewers also see Apple TV+ as having high-quality original programs, but recognize that their library and movies are lacking. While Netflix also scores well with its original series, it is worth noting that it is 9 points lower than the similarly priced HBO Max. Netflix ranks ahead of most services on movie quality, but significantly behind HBO Max and Disney+.
Amazon, even with its large catalog, ranks only above Apple TV+ for quality of library. Whip Media says Hulu’s strong performance on library is notable, benefitting from titles provided by its corporate parents Comcast and Disney.
Here’s one of the conclusions reached by Whip Media: Apple TV+ has made great strides over the last year in overall satisfaction on the strength of its original series, but it still ranks near the bottom of the SVODs in overall value, despite a relatively low price. Suppliers with libraries to sell can justly claim that adding their product to the platform fills the single biggest hole in the offering and will make Apple’s value proposition to the consumer much more compelling.
