New US consumer data from Parks Associates finds the average NPS (net promoter score) for traditional pay-TV providers in 3Q 2018 is -19.
360 Deep Dive: Churn and Retention in Pay TV notes this NPS represent a slight drop for pay-TV providers, which scored -15 in 1Q 2018, although some providers such as Optimum and DISH improved their individual scores. By comparison, the average NPS for the major online pay-TV and OTT video services is positive, although their overall scores declined from 2017 to 2018. Net promoter score measures willingness to recommend a service and is widely used to assess consumer perception of services and providers.
“The percentage of U.S. broadband households that do not subscribe to traditional pay TV increased from 16% in 2011 to 22% in 2017,” said Brett Sappington, Senior Director of Research, Parks Associates.
“With each quarterly earnings report, pay-TV providers and their stakeholders are hyperaware of variances in subscriber figures, and they are trying to reverse this trend with their own brands of OTT services as well as other value-added services. A positive NPS score for these services suggests a positive perception and strong word-of-mouth activity.”
In other research, Parks Associates shows 70% of US broadband households now subscribe to an OTT service, compared to 79% with pay-TV service.
“While consumers demand access to OTT video services on mobile devices, only about one-third of US broadband households actually watched video on their mobile phones in the past 30 days,” said Sappington.
“It is just one example of the complexities involved in offering video services today.”
