Indians a frustrated lot when it comes to navigating online video streaming

Indians are not happy with the navigation facilities available to them on popular video streaming platforms. About 70% of viewers in the country are frustrated with their viewing experiences and close to half of them spend at least a good six minutes in searching for something worthwhile to watch, according to an Accenture report.  

Understanding where the frustration stems from is that more than 60% of global users feel most of the content on platforms they pay for is of no relevance to them. 81% would also allow the platforms to share profile data with others, so that more relevant and personalised content is provided. 

This could also potentially impact margins, as one out of every three consumers globally stating that they will decrease spend on entertainment subscriptions in 2022, a problem that could potentially be overcome by providing more relevant content. Case in point being Netflix, which was able to add only 18 million subscribers in 2021, while in 2020 the number stood at 37 million, this even as other rival streaming channels noted an uptick in subscriptions. 

Accenture opines that the reason for not showing relevant content is an overreliance on algorithms to recommend the user on what to watch. This leads to users having lesser control over tuning to their needs, and having to put up with less interesting content.  

“Evolving consumer preferences and tough economics will create challenges for video streaming platforms. The ecosystem needs a major reset, in addition to providing consumers greater control over their viewing,” said Saurabh Kumar Sahu, MD and lead for Communications at Accenture.

Neeraj Sharma, MD of Communications at Accenture, feels that the frustration is also due to OTT platforms spending resources on flagship titles and content, and not looking closely at the content delivery experience.

Accenture took in inputs from over 6,000 users globally across 11 countries for the study, with 500 of them from India.