The state of streaming in 2024

Year-on-year, Brand Love for Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ has seen a decline. What prompted us to look at the streamers was Netflix, which fell out of the Top 3 this year – that’s the first time this has happened since 2021.

Amazon Prime fell 8 places, and Disney+ a dramatic 90! When looking at Brand Love and how consumers really feel about a brand, it is essential to look at the wider scope of how they are interacting with these platforms. Equally important are the recent developments in the industry.

Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ hold an almost untouchable oligopoly within the world of streaming platforms and instant entertainment. However, the recent introduction of tiered subscription services by these major streaming giants has likely had an impact on brand perceptions.

This shift is also reflected in the decrease in Positive Buzz for all three platforms, among both Generation Z and Millennials. While Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing indeed garnered more subscribers, this move impacted how people felt about the brand.

Despite metrics such as Awareness, Consideration and Usage being intrinsic to evaluating brand performance, insinuations of brand success and failure taken from these have little regard for impact on consumer feelings. Yet, evoking positive emotion from consumers is just as instrumental in maintaining brand loyalty.

Ripples in the stream

Ad-supported plans, albeit being a sensible business approach in terms of revenue, pose a risk in isolating loyal consumers. Tiered subscription plans prove risky in alienating those who can no longer afford the original subscription they signed up for. Essentially, brands are sending their customers the message that the more you pay, the better experience you have – with the added sting of previously enjoying this improved experience at a lower cost.

How much of an issue is retracting, or changing subscription benefits?

Compared to the same period last year, perceptions of Netflix and Amazon Prime being ‘attractively priced’ have dipped. While Millennials are most likely to feel that Netflix is ‘for people like [them]’, they are equally driving this decrease in perceptions of value for money. In the case of Netflix and Disney+, Gen Z appears to be more forgiving, with Millennials again driving these dips in Brand Love. This suggests consumers feel betrayed by price increases, due to being forced to pay more for their previous account benefits, undermining the synonymous, seamless video streaming experience these platforms once offered for a universal price.

For Generation Z, trust in both Netflix and Amazon Prime has also decreased, indicating these younger consumers feel isolated from a brand they once felt they could rely on. Disney+ fares better in Excitement and Fun associations, but the same trend in declining trust is evident.

So, what does this mean for the future of loyalty to streaming services? The number of people who haven’t used Netflix, Prime and Disney+ in the last 12 months (what we term ‘lapsed consumers’) has increased compared to this time last year. With platforms like ITVX, BBC iPlayer, and the recently launched Freely, paid streaming services might be losing their competitive edge. By introducing ads, or consumers being relegated from their previous ad free subscriptions, these major streaming services face the threat of being undercut by more economically accessible platforms.

Access to entertainment content in a seamless and flexible way is what initially attracted consumers to these platforms, and it seems that the brands will need to find a balance between delivering profit and keeping their customers long-term.

This article was initially published in The UK’s Most Loved Brands report, which you can instantly download – for free – below.