Report: Nearly Half of Streaming Video Industry Executives Lack the Right Data to Make Good Business Decisions

remote and streaming content on a TV
(Image credit: NBCU Local)

DALLAS—Parks Associates has released a new report that finds that, even as streaming becomes the primary means for video consumption, 47% of executives in the streaming industry are lacking the data needed to make good business decisions. 

Parks collaborated on the custom research with SymphonyAI—a provider of AI-based data management solutions. The report, "Streaming Content Performance: Executive Insights | 2024 State of the Market," concludes that data on content performance, revenue, and audience engagement is key to successful services, but current fragmentation in the market makes it difficult for companies to collect and aggregate the information needed.

"The need for media companies to successfully manage, optimize, and predict content revenue performance across all distribution models, including FAST, AVOD, SVOD, TVOD, pay TV, and broadcast, grows more urgent by the day," said Mark Moeder, president of the SymphonyAI media division. "Access to accurate, complete, and current data is the cornerstone for making good business decisions."

This custom report shares findings from extensive research and in-depth surveys and interviews of senior executives from streaming service providers, networks, and content sellers. These executives acknowledge that profitability is the focus of the streaming market in 2024, which includes increasing advertising, raising prices, and making more bottom-line decisions regarding content acquisition and production. It also details the tools they plan or want to use in 2024, including AI (artificial intelligence) to overcome data-fragmentation challenges.

"Nearly half of industry executives do not have the data they need, in the way they need it, to make the best business decisions possible," said Jennifer Kent, vice president, Research, Parks Associates. "Even when that data is available, it is often difficult or impossible to collate and compare—71% of industry executives say it is difficult to see all of their streaming-related data in one place."

Companies that own or aggregate television and video assets distribute their content across 18 platforms, on average, so fragmentation in their data sources creates numerous and ongoing headaches for them when trying to make informed decisions about their services and subscribers, Parks says. For example, 78% of streaming executives said content performance by title is or would be "very useful" but just 46% said that data is fully accessible to them.

The white paper is available for download here

Tom Butts

Tom has covered the broadcast technology market for the past 25 years, including three years handling member communications for the National Association of Broadcasters followed by a year as editor of Video Technology News and DTV Business executive newsletters for Phillips Publishing. In 1999 he launched digitalbroadcasting.com for internet B2B portal Verticalnet. He is also a charter member of the CTA's Academy of Digital TV Pioneers. Since 2001, he has been editor-in-chief of TV Tech (www.tvtech.com), the leading source of news and information on broadcast and related media technology and is a frequent contributor and moderator to the brand’s Tech Leadership events.