• US & UK streaming brands such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ are missing opportunities to connect with consumers’ psychological & emotional needs
  • Rather than meaningful connections, brands seem to develop ‘ambivalent’ or ‘avoidant’ attachment to subscribers
  • Meeting the needs of a subscriber requires an understanding of their mood, mind-set and the layers of human emotion

London, UK – July 9, 2020 – Over-the-top (OTT) TV subscription brands consistently show ‘narcissistic’ tendencies, which can erode subscriber trust and ultimately make them disloyal, according to a new in-depth report launched today by Singula Decisions, a specialist in subscriber intelligence.

The new study – ‘The Psychology of a Subscriber’ – found that a wide range of OTT streaming services, in both entertainment and sports, fail to connect with consumers on a deeper emotional and psychological level, by:

  • Not understanding the fundamental drivers motivating a subscribers’ behaviours and interactions
  • Invading their boundaries when asking for financial commitment too soon
  • Insufficiently tailoring the service to meet the moods and mind-set of each customer
  • Creating ‘avoidant’ or ‘ambivalent’ attachments to subscribers that do not build loyal relationships
  • Ineffectively providing subscribers with the ability to share more about themselves and to listen to their feedback.

Psychology of a Subscriber

The qualitative study, conducted and authored by Qualitative Researcher, Accredited Psychotherapist and Director of QualiProjects, Jennifer Whittaker, and Business Psychologist and Researcher, Katharina Wittgens, explores subscriber attitudes towards OTT TV brands in the UK and US, gaining a deep understanding of how consumers think, feel and behave throughout the customer journey.

Qualitative Researcher, Jennifer Whittaker, said: “Many brands do not listen to subscribers, nor do they create a safe enough space for subscribers to come forward and give more. In fact, brands often have unconscious narcissistic tendencies and are blinded by the belief that customers are only there to serve, by giving ‘strokes’ to the ego – aka money to the account – and helping to build a good reputation. Unfortunately, brands cannot know subscribers until subscribers give more. But subscribers will only give more if they trust, and they’ll only trust if they don’t feel forgotten.”

Part 1: Acquisition

This first report in a three-part series covers the acquisition phase of the customer journey. The research found that dissatisfaction and suspicion can begin from the moment a subscriber ‘joins’ a service, if asked to hand over financial information or commit to the brand too soon. While subscribers are at their most enthusiastic in the first months of engagement, brands rarely take advantage of their potential to become an advocate.

Commenting on the findings, Bhavesh Vaghela, CEO of Singula Decisions, said: “We recognise how tough it can be to build a strong brand and grow a TV subscription business as consumers continue to dip-in and out of services every month.  We have seen strong consumer brands being created in other sectors such as retail, ecommerce and banking; consumers are loyal to these brands and TV subscription businesses are behind this curve.  OTT brands must think differently about how they build a service and experience that best suits the needs of their customers – and do a better job to emotionally connect with their customers to build trust and loyalty.”

Death of the demographic?

Bucking the trend of demographic differences, the study found that at the acquisition stage there weren’t huge variations in needs and experiences between age groups. From Gen Z to Baby Boomers, subscribers of all ages said they felt a sense of being “pushed” by OTT TV brands to commit to the platform financially or share private information. Both UK and US consumers also emphasised the need for a variety of content; American respondents search for unique content that is frequently updated, while British viewers seek value for money based on choice and options for the whole family. After joining the platform, subscribers felt brands were nowhere to be seen, without guidance on how to use the service or how to connect accounts with friends.

Best practice opportunities

The findings do indicate, however, that brands willing to listen and take time to truly understand their customers, can build trust and loyalty. The report sets out nearly 40 best practice recommendations that can help brands to offer a simultaneous sense of both freedom and connection that subscribers crave in order to feel comfortable to share more of themselves.

Building a relationship that goes beyond a transactional one will have a huge impact on consumers who are faced with more choice than ever. OTT brands that take a lead from other industries, such as retail, ecommerce, and banking, and seek to connect with their customers on a more emotional level, can emerge much stronger. 

Download a copy

‘Psychology of a Subscriber: Part 1 – Acquisition’ is the first of three reports looking at the psychological and emotional drivers’ consumers experience when subscribing to an OTT service. Part 2 – Growth which will be released in late August, will explore the relational dynamics and child-like emotions at play when subscribers interact with brands during the billing, upgrade and downgrade stages. Part 3 – Churn, will follow in October, discussing how a mismatch between brand and subscriber when leaving a service can lead to passive-aggressive behaviours and explores the emotional impact of being made to feel like a number instead of a name throughout the relationship.

There will be an opportunity to hear the authors of the study discuss the research with Colin Dixon, Founder and Chief Analyst of nScreenMedia in a live webcast on August 10th at noon Pacific time. This webcast, the first in a series of three, is part of the Let’s DEW Lunch webinar series from Digital Media Wire.

For more information and to download the full report, visit psychologyofasubscriber.com.

Privacy Policy

Updated 28th April 2020

This Privacy Policy sets out how Singula Decisions Limited (“Singula Decisions”) uses and protects any information that you may provide to us when you use our website, products and services.

We respect your rights and privacy; we are committed to ensuring that any information gathered on our website, and/or via our products and services, is kept confidential and is only used in the ways which you have consented to.

Should we ask you to provide certain information, by which you can be identified when using our website, products and services, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy policy and in line with the EU General Data Protection Regulations (“GDPR”).

We will not store data for longer than necessary and use it only for the purpose that it was gathered.

You should check the Privacy Policy to ensure that you are happy with the terms. If you are not happy with the terms, please do not enter any personal data.

Singula Decisions will regularly review this Privacy Policy and make changes when necessary. If we make any significant changes to this Privacy Policy, we will communicate these to you, as applicable.

WHAT DATA WE COLLECT

Information is captured via our website contact form or marketing campaign landing pages, as well as via our relevant products and services. This data is provided by you voluntarily.

We may collect and store the following information, as applicable:

Name (e.g. first name and surname);
Contact information (e.g. e-mail address and telephone number(s));
Demographic information (e.g. country, preferences and interests);
Business metrics (e.g. subscriber numbers, churn rate, average revenue per user, etc.); and
IP address and web activity (e.g. web pages visited, time spent on the website, etc.).

WHAT WE DO WITH THE INFORMATION WE GATHER

Singula Decisions requires the information to understand your needs and to provide you with the relevant service. We use the information for the following reasons:

Internal record keeping;
To improve relevant products and services;
To periodically send promotional communications (electronic and telephone) about new products and services, thought leadership or other information which we think you may find interesting based on the information that you have provided;
To contact you for market research purposes; and
To customise our website based on the interests you have indicated.

We may share relevant information with trusted third parties. We do not share data outside of the European Economic Area (“EEA”) unless a specific arrangement is in place to do so between the relevant parties.

WHERE IS DATA STORED?

We use a third-party provider, HubSpot, to capture and store data. This is done securely and in line with the requirements of the GDPR.

SECURITY

Singula Decisions is committed to ensuring that the information you provide is secure. To prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have implemented suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect and store.

PURPOSE OF PROCESSING YOUR DATA

Personal information provided by you is used to promote our products and services. We also promote items that may be of interest (e.g. company announcements, thought leadership, case studies, new partnerships, and events we are attending).

We can segment our promotional communications based on a range of factors (e.g. your consented preferences and the information you have provided).

In general, marketing campaigns are promoted by e-mail and from time-to-time by telephone.

CONSENT

With effect from the 25th May 2018, we provide a mechanism to facilitate consent to receiving relevant communications from us.

When you complete any website form or marketing campaign landing page on our website you will be asked to check two boxes to provide your consent:

To receiving marketing communications from us; and

That you have read and accept this Privacy Policy.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by sending an email to info@singuladecisions.com or by clicking the “unsubscribe” link in any e-mail received from Singula Decisions.

CONTROLLING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

Whenever you are asked to fill in a form on our website; identify the marketing consent statement allowing you to select the box to indicate that you accept or reject your information to be used for direct marketing purposes; and

If you have previously agreed to us using your personal data for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by withdrawing your consent as detailed above.

Singula Decisions will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your express permission or are required by law to do so. We may use your personal data to send you promotional information about selected third parties if you have selected that you are happy to receive marketing communications.

You may request details of personal information that we hold about you by contacting us in writing (FAO Data Protection Officer, Singula Decisions Limited, Cluny Court, John Smith Business Park, Kirkcaldy, Fife KY2 6QJ) or by emailing dpo@singuladecisions.com.

If you believe that any information that we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please contact us in writing or by email as soon as possible. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.

Data Subject Rights

Singula Decisions has a nominated Data Protection Officer (“DPO”), with responsibility for managing Singula Decisions’ policies, procedures and practices in relation to data protection. Contact, for any purposes (e.g. to complain, to request details of information held, etc.) can be made to the DPO in writing using the Singula Decisions address above or by emailing dpo@singuladecisions.com.

In compliance with the GDPR, you can contact us to:

Right to Subject Access Request (Article 15) – to request a report of the data that we hold on you;
Right to Rectification (Article 16) – to request us to update inaccurate/incomplete data that we hold on you;
Right to Erasure (Article 17) – to request us to remove your data from our systems (NB: in this instance, we will likely anonymise your data);
Right to Restriction of Processes (Article 18) – to request that we do not process incorrect data or where you have withdrawn consent for use;
Right to Receive Personal Data (Article 201) – to request that your data is provided to you to allow you to pass it to another company (this will be in a commonly used, machine-readable, format); and
Right to Object (Article 21) – to allow you to object to us holding your data where you believe we have no reason to hold it.

You may also contact our DPO if you wish to make a complaint. Contact can be made in writing, to the address set out above, or by email to dpo@singuladecisions.com.

LINKS TO OTHER WEB SITES

The Singula Decisions website may contain links to other websites of interest. Please note that if you use these links to leave our site that we have no control over the other website, therefore cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and we recommend that you review their separate privacy notices, as applicable.

HOW WE USE COOKIES

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard-drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps to analyse web traffic and when you have visited a particular site.

Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual based on your interactions. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

Overall, cookies help us to provide you with a better website experience, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not.

A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us. You can choose to accept or decline cookies.

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser settings to decline cookies. However, if you decline cookies, this may prevent you from taking full advantage of our website, products and services.

Please read our Cookie Policy for more information by clicking this link.

This Privacy Policy is effective from 28th April 2020.