CHAPTER 5 ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF EMPIRICAL FINDINGS
5.5 DEMOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ANALYSIS
5.5.2 Streaming services usage and preferences
The questionnaire’s Section B included five questions designed to determine respondents’
streaming service practices. In the first question, the respondents were requested to indicate whether they ever used streaming services. The second question examined whether the respondents were currently using streaming services. The third question required respondents to indicate how often they use streaming services. The fourth question requested the respondents to indicate the type of devices to which they have access. The fifth question prompted respondents to indicate the amount they were willing to spend a month to use streaming services. Figure 5-2 represents the results of Section B in the questionnaire.
1. Have you ever used streaming services?
2. Do you currently use streaming services?
3. How often do you use streaming services?
4. I have access to:
5. I am willing to pay for subscription per month:
Figure 5-2: Streaming service usage
97,6 2,4
Yes No
93,20 6,80
Yes No
60,4 23 13 3,5
Everyday 3 to 4 times a week Once or twice a week Never
36
88,9 32,8
94,9 58,8
26,3 1,9
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
PC (Desktop) Laptop
Tablet Smartphone
Smart TV Gaming Device
Other
28,5 47,4 4,1 16,8 3,3
R0-R99 R100-R199 R300-R399
R200-R299 R400-R499
Streaming services are a fairly novel phenomenon in the South African consumer market and are currently in the growth phase of the product life cycle, as indicated in Chapter 3. This is visible in the first chart of Figure 5-2, which indicates that 97.6 percent of the respondents had used a streaming service platform at least once and only 2.4 percent of the respondents indicated that they had never used a streaming service platform.
The second chart in Figure 5-2 exhibits the percentage of Generation Y consumers who had been using a streaming service platform. According to the outcome of the study, 93.2 percent of the Generation Y consumers were using streaming services at the time, while 6.8 percent indicated that they were not using any streaming service platform.
Respondents had to specify how often they use a streaming service platform. The third chart in Figure 5-2 illustrates that 60.4 percent of the respondents were using a streaming service platform every day; 23 percent of the respondents did so three to four times a week; and 13 percent of the respondents indicated that they were using a streaming service only once or twice a week. In the sample, 3.5 percent of the respondents reported that they did not use streaming service platforms.
Furthermore, the respondents were asked to indicate which of the following devices they had access to: a desktop personal computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone, smart televisions, as well as gaming devices such as Xbox and PlayStation. The three devices to which the majority of the respondents had access were smartphones (94.9%), laptops (88.9%) and smart televisions (58.8%). Some respondents indicated that they had access to personal computers (36%), tablets (32%) and gaming devices, which include Xbox and PlayStation (26.3%). Only 1.9 percent of respondents indicated that they use other devices. These results are illustrated in the fourth chart of Figure 5-2.
Lastly, the fifth chart in Figure 5-2 presents the amount of money that the respondents were willing to spend on streaming platforms each month. The majority of the respondents indicated that they were willing to spend R100 – R199 (47.4%). This was followed by 28.5 percent who were willing to pay R0 – R99 and 16.8 percent who reported they were willing to pay R200 – R299. A relatively small portion of the sample indicated that they were willing to spend above R300 a month: 4.1 percent indicated a willingness to spend R300–R399 per month and 3.3 percent were willing to spend R400–R499 per month.
Nine questions were used in Section C in order to determine the respondents' streaming preferences. In the first question, the respondents were requested to indicate which video streaming services they were using at the time and the second question required them to
indicate which video streaming platform they preferred to use. The third and fourth questions examined which music streaming service platforms the respondents were using at the time and which of those platforms they preferred to use. Questions five to seven required the respondents to indicate the devices that they used for streaming, followed by their preferred device on which to stream video and music, respectively. The final two questions prompted the respondents to indicate which internet connection they were using in order to stream and their preferred internet connection for streaming. The outcomes of Section C are presented in Figure 5-3.
1. I am currently using the following video streaming service:
2. My preferred video streaming service platform is:
Figure 5-3: Streaming service preferences
5,7 1,6
19
81 42
30,9 4,6
53,1 5,1
7,6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Amazon Prime Video DEOD Google Play Movies & TV
Netflix ShowMax YouTube Premium Disney + DSTV Now
Other None
0,3 0,3 1,4
65,9 4,6
11,7 1,4
9,5 5,1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Amazon Prime Video DEOD Google Play Movies & TV
Netflix ShowMax YouTube Premium Disney + DSTV Now
Other
3. I am currently using the following music streaming service:
4. My preferred music streaming service platform is:
5. I make use of the following device/s to stream:
6. My preferred device used to stream videos is:
29 10,6
20,9 12,5
1,1
35 4,1
53,1 1,6
8,9
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Apple Music Google Play Music Simfy Africa
Tidal Other
21,1 4,6
8,4 7 0,5
22,8 1,6
29,5 4,3
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Apple Music Deezer Google Play Music
Joox Simfy Africa Spotify Tidal YouTube Music Other
66,4 47,4
89,4 13,8
8,9 1,9
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
PC or laptop Smart TV Smartphone Tablet Gaming device
Other
27,9
36,9 28,7
2,4 2,2 1,9
0 10 20 30 40
PC or laptop Smart TV Smartphone Tablet Gaming device
Other
7. My preferred device used to stream videos is:
8. My preferred device used to stream music is:
9. I make use of the following internet connection/s to stream:
10. My preferred internet connection to use for streaming is
Figure 5-3: Streaming service preferences (continued …)
27,9
36,9 28,7
2,4 2,2 1,9
0 10 20 30 40
PC or laptop Smart TV Smartphone Tablet Gaming device
Other
9,8 7,9
78,6 0,3
1,6 1,9
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
PC or laptop Smart TV Smartphone Tablet Gaming device
Other
58,8 14,6
77,8 13,6
2,2
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Mobile data (3G/4G/5G) Free WIFI spots WIFI at home (Fixed LTE/ADSL/Fibre)
WIFI at university Other
13,3 3
74,5 7,6
1,6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Mobile data (3G/4G/5G) Free WIFI spots WIFI at home (Fixed LTE/ADSL/Fibre)
WIFI at university Other
Given that there are various video streaming service platforms available, respondents were required to indicate which video streaming service platforms they were using at the time. The first chart in Figure 5-3 shows that the majority of the respondents at the time were using Netflix (32.3%), followed by DSTV Now (21.2%), ShowMax (16.8%), YouTube Premium (12.3%), Google Play Movies & TV (7.6%), Amazon Prime Video (2.3%), Other (2.0%), Disney + (1.8%) and DEOD (0.6%). However, 3 percent of the respondents indicated that they were not using any video streaming service platform.
In terms of respondents’ preferred video streaming platform, Netflix was the most popular video streaming service platform as per indication from 65.9 percent of the sample, as illustrated in the second chart in Figure 5-3. This was followed by YouTube Premium (11.7%), DSTV Now (9.5%), other free video streaming services (5.1%), ShowMax (4.6%), Disney + and Google Play Movies & TV (1.4%), as well as Amazon Prime Video and DEOD with equal percentage of 0.3 percent.
Considering the numerous music streaming service platforms available, respondents were required to indicate which music streaming services platforms they were currently using, of which the outcome was presented in the third chart in Figure 5-3. YouTube Music (30%) was used by the majority of the sample, followed by Spotify (19.8%), Apple Music (16.4%), Google Play Music (11.8%), JOOX (7.1%), Deezer (6%), Tidal (2.3%), other service providers (0.9%) and Simfy Africa (0.6%). Furthermore, 5 percent of the respondents indicated that they were not currently using any music streaming service platforms.
As indicated in the fourth chart in Figure 5-3, YouTube Music (29.6%), Spotify (22.8%) and Apple Music (21.1%) were the three most preferred music streaming service platforms among the respondents. These were followed by Google Play Music (8.4%), JOOX (7%), Deezer (4.6%), Tidal (1.6%) and Simfy Africa (0.5%). However, 4.3 percent of the respondents reported preferring music streaming services that were free of charge.
Respondents were asked to indicate which of the following devices they were using for streaming purposes: personal computer or laptop, smart television, smartphone, tablet or gaming devices such as Xbox or PlayStation. The results indicated that 39.2 percent of the respondents were using their smartphones to stream video and audio. Of the respondents, 29.1 percent indicated that they make use of their personal computer or laptop, while the third most popular device was the smart television, at 20.8 percent. Tablets (6.1%) and gaming devices (3.9%) were the least-used devices by the respondents for streaming. For this question, 0.8 percent of the respondents indicated that they used other devices to stream audio or video. These results are presented in the fifth chart in Figure 5-3.
According to the outcome presented in Figure 5-3, Chart 6, the majority of the respondents preferred to use their smart television (36.9%), smartphone (28.7%) or their personal computer or laptop (27.9%) in order to stream videos. The least preferred devices were tablets (2.4%), gaming devices (8.9%) and other streaming devices available (1.9%).
The seventh chart in Figure 5-3 illustrates Generation Y consumers’ preferred device for streaming music. The majority of the respondents (78.6%) preferred to use their smartphone.
The personal computer or laptop was favoured by 9.8 percent of the sample and the smart television was indicated by 7.9 percent of the sample. This is followed by other devices (1.9%), gaming devices (1.6%) and tablets (0.3 percent).
Respondents were asked to indicate which internet connection they made use of when streaming. According to Chart 8 in Figure 5-3, the three internet connections mostly used are WIFI installed at their houses (46.6%), mobile data (35.2%) and free-WIFI spots (8.7%). This was followed by WIFI at the university (8.1%) and other available internet connections (1.3%).
According to Chart 9 in Figure 5-3, Generation Y consumers preferred to use WIFI installed at their houses for streaming purposes; this response is accounted by 74.5 percent of the total sample. Mobile data was accounted by 13.3 percent of the responses, WIFI available at the university by 7.6 percent, Free-WIFI spots by 3 percent and other available internet connections by 1.6 percent of the total sample.