For years, streaming services were laser-focused on customer acquisition. Now that TV streaming has become ubiquitous, priorities have shifted. Keeping consumers engaged and subscribed has emerged as a top priority.
But mitigating churn is not easy with today’s ever-expanding menu of entertainment choices. In fact, the average household has 4.7 on-demand streaming services and people don’t hesitate to “channel sample.”¹
Meanwhile, consumers are having trouble finding content. Adult TV streamers take up to 11 minutes to decide what to watch, a 50% increase from March 2019.² And Roku data indicates two-thirds of our streamers don’t always know what to watch when they turn on their Roku device.³
To keep streamers engaged, streaming providers should harness the power of content discovery.
During a session at the Variety Entertainment Marketing Summit, Jon Goodstadt, senior director of global ad sales at Roku joined Adam Waltuch, SVP of streaming partnerships at TelevisaUnivision to discuss how marketers can leverage content discovery data to drive streaming engagement. Panelists discussed how content discovery insights help streaming services mitigate channel sampling, what content keeps users engaged, and the importance of being proactive about surfacing shows and movies subscribers are most likely to watch.
The conversation was full of important takeaways for marketers. Below, we gathered four ways entertainment marketers can apply content discovery insights:
1. Make content more discoverable
The first step in retaining consumers is to make your content easy to find amid a rising tide of TV streaming options. Goodstadt explained that Roku shortens the distance between content and streamer in a number of ways. It promotes content on its home screen, offers a Sports Zone that helps sports fans easily find content, and shares AI-powered personalized recommendations. Media advertisers can also create immersive experiences. For example, to drive viewership for the Season 2 premiere of Roku Original Die Hart 2: Die Harter, Roku offered a home screen fan experience with behind-the-scenes footage, giveaways, character bios and a blooper reel.
“Our superpower is our homescreen,” said Goodstadt. “We all know there is a lot of streamer confusion. There is so much content you have to go through to find what you want to watch. Our consumer team has been working incredibly hard to help streamers find the content they want to watch through innovative features on our home screen.”
2. Get focused
For some streaming services, casting a wide net is not as effective as focusing on specific consumer segments. When TelevisaUnivision’s streaming service Vix wanted to attract Spanish speaking households and those who lean heavily into soccer, it partnered with Roku in the US and Latin America to find those streamers on the Roku platform. Vix also did a home screen takeover in Mexico to promote its World Cup coverage.
“Being where the consumer is when they are trying to find that content is critical. Roku’s Sports Zone is a great example,” said Waltuch. “More important than being everywhere is being in the right places. We really need to optimize or we will lose impressions or be in front of people who don’t really care about our content.”
3. Look beyond the premiere
Advertisers often spend big on advertising during a show’s premier, but Roku research shows ads perform well throughout an entire season. We’ve seen top shows like Ted Lasso or Yellowjackets stay on our Top-40 most-searched series throughout their seasons. Marketers, can engage and re-engage subscribers by encouraging catch-up or promoting buzzworthy moments. Goodstadt said,
4. Use “cultural popcorn moments” to bring back lapsed subscribers.
Waltuch says Vix is working hard to strike a balance between new acquiring customers and engaging existing or lapsed customers. With both SVOD and AVOD services, he notes engagement and churn are directly correlated to profitability. For example, soccer is seasonal. Subscribers join to watch UEFA Champions League or Liga MX, then some disengage until the next season begins. Keeping those customers coming back all year is critical.
“Encouraging users who previously engaged with you to come back sometimes makes more economical sense than going after a brand-new user,” said Waltuch.
Roku data affirms this strategy. Take the hit reality show Vanderpump Rules. A widely publicized scandal (affectionately dubbed “Scandoval”) led to the show seeing a 2.7x increase in searches on Roku.⁴ Moments like this make it a great time to promote the title to people who may not have watched the show in years but want to see what the recent buzz is about — and then binge intervening seasons. Goodstadt said,
Following these four steps can help keep subscribers engaged. We know they’ll still hop between streaming services, but making your content easy to find and focused on popular cultural moments will help you stand out in an increasingly competitive landscape.
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¹ April 2022
² October 2022 Nielsen survey
³ Roku Streamer’s Journey Consumer Survey | May 2022
⁴ Internal Roku data, 2023
