TROY, Mich.—The new customer satisfaction survey of pay TV providers from J.D. Power highlights the importance of streaming services in the overall consumer experience and provides some interesting data bolstering the increasingly widespread pay TV strategy of bundling streaming services with traditional pay TV offerings.
The report found that satisfaction with the cost of service among residential television customers who also have a streaming service is 81 points higher (on a 1,000-point scale) than among those who do not have a streaming service, reinforcing the idea that operators should be making streaming services easily accessible on their user interface.
The report also found evidence that customers are still finding value in the pay TV video subscription. Among customers who have a streaming service and typical cable TV, 91% told J.D. Power that they will not be dropping their TV service in the next 12 months, a stat that indicates those customers have not found all of what they are looking for outside of the traditional pay TV landscape, the report noted.
“The use of streaming services not only provides a more cost effective way to watch television, it also provides the ability to stream personalized and live content anytime, anywhere,” said Ian Greenblatt, managing director at J.D. Power. “Customers with highly satisfying streaming experiences will continue to seek increased convenience, personalization and relevant content elsewhere if not delivered by traditional television providers.”
In terms of national rankings, Dish was the highest with 751 out of a possible 1,000, followed by DirecTV (731), Comcast’s Xfinity (723) and Charter’s Spectrum (702). The industry average was 721.
In the “East Region” Verizon was first with 750, followed by Dish (747), DirecTV (742).
Dish ranked highest in the North Central segment with a score of 746, followed by AT&T (735) and Xfinity (717).
AT&T ranked highest in the South segment with a score of 762, followed by Dish (760) and DirecTV (742).
Dish ranked highest in the West segment with a score of 744, followed by AT&T (734) and DirectTV (721).
The full rankings for individual operators are in the graphics below the article.
The 2021 U.S. Residential Television Service Provider Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 21,555 customers who currently have television service with a provider included in the study. The study measures overall satisfaction with television service providers based on seven factors: Performance and Reliability; Cost of Service; Programming; Communications and Promotions; Billing and Payment; Features and Functionality; and Customer Service. The study was fielded from October 2020 through July 2021.
