Do you have Severance seen already? Great series, unique and actually indispensable. You do need an Apple TV+ subscription. Oh, and the second season of megahit Euphoria† For that you have to crank up HBO Max. The latest superhero series Moon Knight† Disney+. Mocro Mafia† Turn on Videoland. The spectacular yellow jackets† Ziggo Movies & Series. Anyway, the Dutch Dirty Lines try because your friends keep saying it’s such a fun series? Just get Netflix.
Also read our review: In ‘Severance’ work never goes home
The market for video on demand services is not getting any clearer. The serial viewer who wants to see everything has a day job keeping up with what is on offer in the increasingly fragmented market. The year started with the Dutch entry of two major new players: the American HBO Max (major quality series, films) and the Scandinavian Viaplay (mainly sports, including Formula 1). And then as a media consumer you also have all those other options, such as digital subscriptions to newspapers and music services. Recently the podcast service Podimo came to the Netherlands, with a subscription model.
In the world of video services, Netflix is the global market leader with 222 million paying members in more than 190 countries. It is also the largest in the Netherlands (3.2 million subscribers), where the service has been in existence since September 2013. But newcomer HBO Max is now also claiming a piece of the pie, in addition to already existing competitors such as Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video.
How does the average binge watcher find their way into the streaming landscape? NRC asked readers how they deal with the stress of choice associated with the fragmented supply, and whether their viewing behavior has changed. 1,171 readers completed the survey in full (the number of respondents per sub-question is higher, because some readers did not complete all the questions). Three important findings emerge from the results.
I. NRC readers are regular viewers, despite the fragmented offer
Most respondents indicate that they base their choice when choosing a streaming service on the range of series (42 percent) and movies (32 percent). Price, offers and what services friends and family already have play a less important role (15 and 11 percent). For 71-year-old Bart Bender, the choice for a Netflix subscription is fairly obvious: the service that was one of the first major providers has enough good films and series in house.
Marielle Akkerman (32) concluded a Netflix subscription with her sister for the Netflix Originals, series produced by Netflix. “The main reason I stay with Netflix is because I share the subscription with family. But secretly also because I want to continue to follow a small number of series.” Frank Hendriks, 65, is far from bored with the series on Netflix. “I am thinking about subscribing to HBO Max, but the main reason not to do so is that there are still so many series on NPO Plus and Netflix that I want to see. I don’t feel the need to add another subscription.”
With the arrival of new services, old and trusted providers are not so easily abandoned. Most NRC readers, three quarters of the 1,523 people who answered the question, indicate that they do not often switch providers. Those who took out a subscription years ago during the dominant period of Netflix, often stick to the trusted service.
Netflix has announced that it will make more quality content, but is facing competition from services that also offer a quality offering, which are also cheaper. Akkerman shares her subscriptions with her mother, sisters and another friend and therefore does not cancel them easily. “Although the offer of Netflix is now so large that there is also a lot of pulp in it.” Her favorite services are not too expensive and have a smaller offering, such as HBO Max, which she recently subscribed to for that reason.
II. Passwords are widely shared, even if it’s against the rules
With the breakthrough of streaming services and the increase in providers, viewing behavior and dealing with subscriptions is also changing. More and more users are ‘stacking’ services, according to research from Telecompaper (for example the combination Netflix and Videoland). Sharing account passwords is also popular. Officially you are not allowed to allow people from outside your household to your Netflix account, but this happens a lot nonetheless. The company itself says that more than 100 million households can watch for free via a shared account. That means, according to Netflix’s own figures, nearly half of its members share an account outside their own household. This was always tolerated, but the company is now experimenting in a number of countries with possibilities to make people outside the household part of an account for a fee. ‘Illegal’ sharing should be a thing of the past. Such a move comes with risks: are subscribers willing to pay for features that previously seemed free? Certainly with the many alternatives, you as a company may lose subscribers.
For now, sharing is still possible: like at a brunch where everyone contributes with their own sandwiches and salad, passwords of streaming services are widely shared in households, families and among friends. Just over half of the 1,523 readers who answered the question (54 percent) say they share or use a subscription without paying for it.
NRC asked serial viewers between 14 and 22 February in a online survey to their viewing habits.
This offers a variety of viewing options. The abundance of services means that Guido Ramakers (56) actually has too many: “I have a ridiculous amount of those services, because I have four children in their early twenties who watch a lot of series and the like. One likes this and the other likes that.” His children take out a subscription themselves and share their login details with their parents. The Ramakers family has a long list of services to choose from: Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime video, Videoland, NPO Plus and NFL Gamepass.
Frank Hendriks uses his daughter’s Netflix account, and his daughter uses his NPO Plus subscription the other way around. What if Dutch people can only make other people part of their account for a fee? “I think I would go into that, because we look at it so much,” says Hendriks.
Marielle Akkerman then drops out: “The fact that I can share my subscription and therefore do not lose the full costs is currently the biggest reason to remain a member. Moreover, I already pay extra to be able to watch on more than one screen at the same time.” Many services offer this option, such as Videoland, which has several subscriptions for watching simultaneously. Anyone who pays more with the streaming service of RTL can even watch on four screens at the same time.
III. The huge range leads to new viewing rituals, but also to dropouts
More and more people are canceling their linear TV subscription and switching completely to on-demand viewing. This means, among other things, that more and more viewers need simple, easy-to-digest programs after a long working day, the streaming services know. Where they first mainly provided ‘premium content’ in which acting performances and a good plot were important, they now offer more and more simple entertainment. That’s why you can find an infinite number of silly concepts like Is It Cake? (where participants have to guess whether something is a cake or another object) or Cooking with Paris (in which Paris Hilton is usually in a prom dress, accompanied by another star, acting awkwardly in the kitchen).
However, the large selection also makes the viewer more critical. Akkerman stops after ten minutes with a series or film if she doesn’t like it: “There is so much to see, read and do that I don’t want to waste my time. In addition, I notice that my concentration quickly disappears and I can therefore stop watching in the middle of an episode and then pick it up again later in the day or during the week.”
Melda Koca (47) notices that she makes less effort to get through a series or film. “When I watch something, I quit when it’s no longer worth it.” Without a TV channel to present you with another program, there is no one to tell you that you’ve watched enough of that one addictive, but perhaps not very uplifting program. „I watch a lot more than I would like to see programs like First Dates†
Hendriks finds it useful that you can watch what you want at any time: “On linear TV you are stuck with the moments when they broadcast something. Now I watch two or three episodes of a series in a row via NPO Plus. I don’t feel like waiting, because then I’ll have already forgotten the characters and names.”
Akkerman has been binging less in the last two years and now mainly focuses on quality. The streaming services no longer offer her the relaxation she used to experience. “I experience pressure with all those series that you all have to keep up with. I get stressed from all the series tips I get from friends, so I don’t feel like it anymore. I actually prefer to read a book in the evening.”