CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
6.6 RECOMMENDATIONS
The insights gained from the previous chapters, such as the literature review and the findings of this study, have shown that consumers' perceived value of a medium or their attitude towards that medium, along with the perceived usefulness of the medium and its trialablity are important predictors of streaming service adoption intentions amongst Generation Y consumers.
Furthermore, the study established that perceived enjoyment, perceived informativeness and risk avoidance all make a significant contribution to this segment’s perceived value of such services.
With this in mind, the following recommendations are made to aid streaming service providers in South Africa to target Generation Y consumers more effectively.
6.6.1 Extend the streaming service trial period
The study indicated that Generation Y consumers’ intention to subscribe to a streaming service is influenced by their ability to experience the service beforehand. The competition in the streaming service industry is fiercer than ever before; therefore, it is vital for service providers to ensure that they offer something above and beyond their competitors. It is no longer enough to offer a basic service for the duration of a free introductory period of 30 days or three months.
Streaming service providers should consider lengthening their free trial period from the conventional 30 days to three months, to six months.
In addition, streaming service providers should look at options for partnering with cellular phone manufacturers and data providers. With these partnerships, applications could be pre-installed on new cellular phones and users could be rewarded with a streaming service ticket, which allows them to stream free for a certain number of hours every time they purchase data, depending on the amount of data purchased. This approach may encourage usage of the trial period, which might lead to users subscribing to the service as they might become habitual users during the trial and continue their behaviour after the trial expires. This same marketing tactic could be implemented with smart television manufacturers.
Furthermore, the service providers could look at the option of referrals from friends and family.
Once a user signs up for a trial period, they receive a second log in password that they can give to a friend or family member to experience the trial period with, who may then also become a potential future customer. Another marketing tactic streaming services may consider is to offer a potential user the opportunity to watch three episodes of an exclusive television series, which may lead the user to subscribe to the service if they wish to watch the complete series. During these trial periods, it is also vital to communicate the benefits of the premium versions over the trial one to the users.
6.6.2 Continue to monitor Generation Y consumers’ perceived value of streaming services
Consumers are more likely to use technology such as streaming services if those services are deemed useful and valuable (Mutahar et al., 2016:885). A key factor to encouraging more Generation Y consumers to adopt streaming services in South Africa is to deliver on the value proposition, which means constantly innovating, both on content and on the user interface.
A user-friendly interface is a crucial feature of every streaming platform. Streaming service providers should constantly develop their user interfaces to enhance consumers’ content discovery and to deliver a consistent experience. Viewers should find it easy to navigate the system and to quickly discover and access content. Streaming service providers should ensure their algorithms are constantly refined in order to recommend new exclusive and relevant content to consumers on a regular basis in order for them to feel that the services are informative, useful and enjoyable.
Streaming service providers could look into alternative pricing strategies, depending on the time the user spends on the platform or the time period the subscriber wants to subscribe for.
Alternatively, the prices could depend on how much content the user consumes in a month.
6.6.3 Continually improve on the informativeness of the streaming service
Streaming services are considered to be informative and this has a direct positive influence on whether or not Generation Y consumers will perceive the service as valuable. Service providers already grant the consumer immediate access to a wide variety of up-to-date video content/television series/music relevant to the consumer’s interests and preferences. However, original content is what drive consumers to sign up for streaming services, Therefore, service providers should focus on creating original content that will only be available on their platform. A substantial portion of the service provider’s marketing communication should focus on informing its target market of the content that will be exclusively available on its platforms.
Furthermore, personalisation is a growing consumer expectation. Streaming service providers should develop their algorithms in such a way as to ensure that Generation Y consumers are guided to the right content. This can be accomplished through dynamic and engaging communication, as well as the integration of streaming services with social media platforms and gaming networks. When information adds value to consumers’ viewing experience they are more interested in being informed about matters such as release dates and new content (Facebook IQ, 2019). Integration will enable these services to recommend content based on the viewers’ mood, who they are with, the length of the content as well as the content that their friends and family are currently watching. The service provider could look at the option of enabling users to link profiles with friends, family and peers in order for them to be able to recommend movies, television shows, songs or bands to one another. This will help them to capitalise on word-of-mouth and recommendations to create awareness and excitement about new releases and existing content.
6.6.4 Focus on the entertainment value of streaming services
Generation Y users’ perceived enjoyment of streaming services is directly related to whether they find the service to be valuable or not. The service providers should try to include pleasure and enjoyment in the new features and services, such as virtual reality scenes from movies or music videos, which will create an immersive experience for the users. They could also focus on creating interactive content that will enable users to participate in certain scenes by interacting with them, potentially influencing the outcome. The different platforms could enable users to create virtual watch parties, especially for reality shows, which could also result in users having a more pleasant experience.
The streaming service provider’s marketing strategy should concentrate on the ability to create playlists that can be played offline from anywhere, on any platform. Such as a playlist for a party that allows them to only connect their device to a sound system or a playlist for workouts. Service
providers could also add a karaoke section to their platform that allow users to karaoke to their favourite songs. Furthermore, streaming service providers could add a battle challenge feature, where the user could sing a duet with other users or pre-recorded duet parts with the original artist. The users can then send a challenge request to their friends and family members linked to this profile. This will be beneficial for them as it will assist them in taking advantage of the habitual behaviour of users by creating service elements that make the user return to the service on a frequent basis. This can be done by means of specific advertisements portraying typical Generation Y users exploring and enjoying these services.
6.6.5 Highlight how subscribing to streaming services mitigates the risks associated with pirating in marketing communication messages
An advantage of streaming services is that their platforms can be accessed on nearly any internet- connected device that offers the option to download the streaming service providers’ application.
Whether they be smart televisions, tablets, laptops or cellular phones, these digital devices are generally very expensive. Using a streaming service platform to view movies/series or listening to music mitigates the risk of viruses and/or malware that may potentially damage these expensive devices. Given the importance Generation Y consumers attach to such risk avoidance, it is important for streaming service providers to stress the safety factor of their services in their marketing messages aimed at the Generation Y segment in South Africa.
6.6.6 Add features to the streaming platform that will contribute to its perceived usefulness
The two basic concepts that assist with the evaluation of consumers’ experience of consumption are the experience of enjoyment and the usefulness of the service (Chen & Lai, 2015). The factors that determine whether a service is considered to be useful by a person include its effectiveness, convenience, cost-efficiency and functionality. Consequently, people consider factors such as informativeness, accessibility, speed and convenience of the service as determining factors of its perceived usefulness.
Streaming service providers should aim to create a unique experience and to give the Generation Y user more control over the platform by adding customisation features such as playback speed control, options of different resolutions, access to general settings like the advertisement options, interface themes, layouts, grids and how their files should be listed.
Streaming service prodivers could look at the option to enable Generation Y users to use third