According to Parks Associates, 70% of U.S. broadband households with a major video service consider its user interface (UI) to be good, with 48% rating it "very good," and these scores impact their willingness to recommend the service to others. Analysis of consumer responses indicates that quality of the UI and the ease of finding content are the most likely factors to drive willingness to recommend a video service.
"User interfaces are a key factor driving satisfaction for OTT services, and Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon - the big three in OTT streaming - have largely set the standard for content navigation and ease of use," said Kristen Hanich, senior analyst, Parks Associates. "Other services have had to follow similar structures established by these three, but as new OTT services launch with greater and greater expectations, innovations in UIs could be an even greater differentiator contributing to their success or failure."
The research house says one-fifth of households cancelling an OTT subscription cited an inability to find something to watch as a factor.
"Consumers are interested in finding particular shows or genres of content and have less interest in browsing by channel," Hanich said.
Other findings indicate:
- 70% of consumer electronics (CE) purchasers said ease of use is a "very important" purchase consideration.
- When searching for something to watch, 12% of OTT users consider recommendations from the service as their first step.
- Apple TV owners give high marks to the device's UI.