Many Cord Cutters Facing TV Overload With Too Many Streaming TV Choices

Over 50% of The Streaming TV Population, is Suffering From Too Many Streaming TV Choices

In a recent survey performed by Verizon Media and Publicis Media a large segment of viewers are suffering from TV overload. There is just too much great stuff to watch and not enough time to watch it.

What a difference a few years make, many of us are old enough to remember a time when turning on the TV meant aimlessly clicking through a hundred live cable or satellite channels and not really finding anything that exciting to watch.

They even coined a term for this phenomenon, "Channel Surfing." And most of the time it was an exercise in frustration as one quickly clicked through channel after channel.

Now with Cord Stacking, a new term for some which means those who subscribe to conventional TV service together with a paid subscription streaming service, there are so many shows and movies to choose from. And some viewers are having a tough time with this.

What the Study Showed

When 3,000 U.S. television viewers were surveyed nationally, here are the results:

A large majority of Americans 68% rely on their Smart TV's onboard software to connect to streaming TV channels and apps.
67% users who use a media streamer are having a touch time figuring out what to watch because there is just too much content to choose from.
50% use a Roku, Apple TV or Fire TV to connect to paid streaming TV services.
Viewers who use streaming TV services typically on average will use 5 or more.
Of those who stack services. Cable TV and Streaming TV use an average of 7 streaming service.
Here's where paid content providers could improve and is the primary reason pirate streaming sites are so popular. Because those streamers who typically use five or more streaming services, 80% said they would like to see a “universal search” to help them find and access content from all streaming services.
48% of survey respondents have a genuine concern about how expensive it is for subscription streaming TV services.
Half of cord cutters share passwords with friends and neighbors to offset the cost of streaming TV.
60% of those surveyed would like to see lower cost ad-supported subscription plans.

This survey shows there is still much room for improvement. A large segment of cord cutters are still struggling to find content across multiple platforms and content providers. So a universal search feature that could access all streaming content would be an immense help.

Roku, Apple, Google and Fire TV all offer some limited search capabilities on their platforms. But each likes to direct users to their own streaming TV platform's content.

A better approach would be an independent app or channel that had no financial advantage to integrate a wide range of streaming TV services. With no bias towards any individual service, rather direct users towards content based on ratings, cost or entertainment value. Possibly letting users set preferences to their preferred method of finding content.

Some third-party websites like reelgood.com and justwatch.com already offer enhanced search capabilities across many streaming TV sites. But this does not cover the thousands of other channels and apps available. It also does not work directly from smart TVs or some media streamers.

Reelgood has apps for iPhone, Android, LG Smart TVs, Android TV, and Fire TV. They don't yet have a Roku app, but you can use the Reelgood mobile app for iOS or Android to play directly to your Roku.

Once a search engine could be developed that lets you find content on every channel available, this would be a real game changer for cord cutters. It's only a matter of time, with more and more people cutting the cord until someone or a coordinated effort among the major content providers develops something that will make finding content across streaming TV a lot easier.

We developed a fun streaming remote app that can help you find some great channels and sites to stream content from. It's designed to look like a remote control, and has bookmarks to today's top streaming sites and channels. Access it free or learn more about it here

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