BRAG-ing About: The Streaming Video Brands Built to Survive
Our BRAG Index is out! The Brand Relative App Growth Index puts a lens on the relationship between brand and app growth for leading apps in major categories. Our “BRAG-ing About” blog will take a deeper look into Big Issues facing each category.
“What show are you watching?”
When it comes to streaming video brands, the “what’s next” question is critical. While consumers are willing to have more than one subscription (the average user has 4), the low barriers to changing to another service means that consumers will swap subscriptions each month if another service has a show they want to watch. In fact, consumers list “access to the shows they want” as the most attractive feature of a streaming video service.
In a world where content is king and subscribers can be fickle, streaming brands are faced with a monthly challenge of ensuring their app stays relevant and on top of consumers' minds. Our recent BRAG Index explored the factors that would allow a brand to survive this competitive market and two key factors immediately jump out - big awareness and regular engagement.
Take maybe the biggest giant and one of the oldest apps in the streaming world: Netflix. While they took a beating with some bad press earlier due to a price increase and subscriber loss, they still managed to weather the storm. The reason? A whopping 93% consumer awareness (the highest of ANY app we surveyed, not just streaming video) and the highest engagement index (DAU/MAU) of any other app in the category aside from YouTube. It also doesn’t hurt that Stranger Things is super popular! That popularity provides staying power even in hard times.
Two other apps we recognized, YouTube and Amazon Prime, also have longevity on their side and ranked #1 and #2 in our Brand Power rankings (Netflix is #3). These apps also have high levels of Engagement that will keep them relevant for the foreseeable future. But besides these long term survivors, do any newer apps have what it takes to keep up?
Our BRAG Index saw three factors that could play a role:
- Content - Of course, having great shows will always be a boon. Which is why HBOMax scored so well on our BRAG Index.
- Consolidations/Partnerships - The combined power of Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN’s bundled promotion has helped boost the individual brands.
- Low Cost - Aside from content, price is the other big factor that drives consumer switching and interest. PlutoTV is a relative newcomer that had the highest Brand Velocity (the biggest movement since our last BRAG Index) thanks to its live TV offering.
Streaming Video is still an emerging category with a lot more shake-ups on the horizon - like the HBOMax and Discovery+ merger coming next year. While it remains to be seen how this will affect the category as a whole, it is undeniable that brand strength will continue to play a massive role in who wins consumer attention.
