Viewers are frustrated at their inability to find anything to watch and platforms that push paid for content in their recommendation.
Drawing on data from Rovi’s global research programme, Charles Dawes, senior director international marketing, said early search systems were largely to blame.
According to the research a third of viewers worldwide can’t find anything to watch, a key reason when cord cutting is on the agenda.They’re spending some 19 minutes a day looking for what they want.
Seven per cent admit to simply giving up when they can’t find anything to watch, a figure that stands at 30% in the supposedly content rich UK.
80% of viewers in the United States and 79% in the UK are aware of a search tool, but only 18% actually use it. People feel the search takes too long, with too many clicks required.
In the survey there were claims that people would pay extra for additional search functionality including voice. “If you can say what you want to watch and the system can get back to you, how much more simple can you get than that,” said Dawes.
On the reluctance to use recommendation engines a quarter said it was irrelevant. Others said it was too focused on on demand content. In the US the top reason (for 22pc) was that the recommendations were based too much on what had been watched already.
Dawes said on demand was becoming the preferred method for viewing. “We live in a world where on demand has to be available on as many devices as you physically have.”
