Surprise! Study Finds People Hate Poor Quality, Buffering Video

Surprise! Study Finds People Hate Poor Quality, Buffering Video

Cloud delivery platform Akamai Technologies has released new research demonstrating how quality of video resolution and playback affects viewers’ engagement with and loyalty to over-the-top (OTT) video streaming services. 

You can download a copy of the study here.

According to the study conducted by third-party research firm Sensum, viewers disengage with emotive storylines and react negatively to low-quality streaming incidents like buffering regardless of the brand or interest in the content.

The research shows negative emotions increase 16 per cent while engagement decreases nearly 20 per cent as a result of these poor experiences. The survey also demonstrates that 76 per cent of participants say they would stop using a service if issues such as buffering occurred several times.

The research also found:

  • Subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) brands lose the most engagement due to buffering while transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) models suffer the most negative impact to brand loyalty if delivering low-quality experiences.
  • High-resolution video content with emotive storylines improve viewer engagement by more than 10 percent
  • When buffering begins:
    • Happiness drops 14 per cent
    • Negative emotions (disgust and sadness) increase by an average of eight per cent
    • Viewers’ feeling of surprise increases 27 per cent
    • Attention drops by three per cent and focus decreases by eight per cent

“This unique research shows there is no place for low-quality video in any streaming business model,” said Ian Munford, director of product marketing, media solutions, at Akamai.

“The premium online video market is extremely competitive; the battle for revenue share is intense and subscriber acquisition costs are increasing, making differentiators like quality of experience more important than ever. Service providers cannot take risks with streaming experiences that are compromised by low resolution or buffering. They must provide consistent, high-quality experiences to help retain subscribers and reduce acquisition costs.”

The study, used a variety of testing procedures including sensory, implicit and explicit responses from more than 1,200 participants. All tests carried out adhered to the Video Quality Experts Group (VQEG) standards to ensure results could not be contaminated. Akamai also created fictitious brands to remove any previous emotional association with the business models and used the same content across all the brands to nullify the impact of content type on the respondents.




Please login with linkedin to comment

Akamai

Latest News

The Mars Agency Announces Latest Findings Of Retail Media Report Card
  • Advertising

The Mars Agency Announces Latest Findings Of Retail Media Report Card

The Mars Agency has developed a scorecard that assesses the capabilities of leading platforms across key criteria required to optimally plan, execute, and measure effective retail media programs. The scorecard aims To help brands efficiently evaluate their spending options across retail media networks in Australia (and New Zealand). With spending on retail media advertising in […]

TV Ratings (27/03/2024): Jungle Members At War Over Concealed Lipstick
  • TV Ratings

TV Ratings (27/03/2024): Jungle Members At War Over Concealed Lipstick

A heated argument between two jungle members did the numbers for Ten last night, with I’m A Celeb obtaining a total national reach of 1,282,000. Fans were delighted as Candice Warner and influencer Skye Wheatley got into it over a stick of lipstick, leading Warner to dub the Instagram star “selfish.” Wheatley, best known for […]