Pay TV Customers Prepared to Pay More in Return for Outstanding Experience
Los Angeles, Calif., April 29, 2014 - At The Cable Show 2014 today, Amdocs today announced the results of new independent research that explores North American viewers’ attitudes towards pay TV providers, also known as Multi-System Operators (MSOs), and their over-the-top (OTT) counterparts.
The survey finds that MSOs have clear strengths in the areas of customer experience and that by providing one service that enables subscribers to search, discover and consume their video content from both MSO and OTT sources, they can retain subscribers and drive future revenue growth. Seventy-six percent of those respondents who have cut the cord or reduced the size of their subscription stated that they would reconsider if they were given one service that aggregates all video content; 66 percent of all respondents stated they would prefer this service and of those, 40 percent would be prepared to pay more for such a service.
- MSOs are already viewed by respondents as outperforming OTT players in terms of customer service (92 percent); content (89 percent) and video quality (83 percent), while the most complaints about OTT players’ performance center on content (39 percent) and customer service (22 percent)
- Customers are prepared to pay up to 10 percent more for outstanding experience in the areas of content (62 percent); multi-screen provisioning (44 percent), user interface (30 percent) and customer service (25 percent)
- An ideal pay TV service would include additional services such as video gaming (23 percent); social media (21 percent); music (18 percent) and user-generated content (17 percent)
- Exactly half of consumers polled would like to pay only for the channels or content they watch; 19 percent want a basic package plus only the channels and content they watch, and 31 percent want a one-size-fits-all package. Thirty-one percent also said they wanted this one-size-fits-all package as part of a larger bundle of communication services
“The survey shows that in this challenging time for the pay TV market, including competition from OTT players leading to cord cutting and cord shaving and the need to deliver a next-generation TV experience, MSOs have some clear strengths that can be leveraged both in terms of customer experience and the actual viewing experience,” said Nizar Assanie, vice president of IE Market Research Corp, the global market research and business strategy consulting firm focusing on the communications industry that conducted the survey. “By understanding customer preferences for every aspect of the customer experience ‒ from selling and billing to support and consumption – MSOs can leverage their strengths and emerging services to retain their customers and drive growth. People are looking towards their MSOs to be the single source of their video and entertainment consumption.”
“In order to stay ahead in today’s competitive environment, MSOs need a product suite such as Amdocs CES 9.1 that encompasses the ability to deliver an outstanding customer experience and drive more revenue as well as meet the complex packaging demands of the modern consumer,” said Rebecca Prudhomme, vice president for product and solutions marketing at Amdocs. “The combination of Amdocs’ CES 9.1 portfolio, strategic partnerships and services enables MSOs to deliver next-generation TV experiences that ensure MSOs can capitalize on all aspects of the viewing experience.”
The survey polled almost 750 consumers who use pay TV and/or OTT services in North America.
