Churn rates

[DarylM]

A "churn rate" is the percentage of users of a service who will cancel their subscription in a given period (usually annually). 

These leavers will usually be replaced by new customers - so a churn rate of 10% doesn't mean that the overall subscriber base has decreased by 10%.  If you have enough new subscribers coming in, it's possible to have a churn rate of 100% and still show overall growth.

In the US, Netflix is estimated to have a churn rate of 9% - meaning that 91% of subscribers just keep their subscriptions going, even though there is no contract.

Smaller services, such as Hulu Plus, have a churn rate of 50% or more.

Sky currently has a churn rate of 10.1%

We will probably never find out what the churn rate for Now TV is, because those figures aren't released.  I'm sure it must be significantly higher than 10%.  But there may be some protection against higher churn because of the different passes on offer.  Someone cancelling a Movies Pass might choose to change straight away to an Entertainment Pass instead, for example.

Existing customers know what to expect from Now TV (duration of box sets etc), so churn may be relatively low there.  But churn will be higher among new customers who compare the service to Netflix.  One of the main reasons for new customers not continuing with a subscription may be lack of subtitles.  If subtitles were introduced in the future, I think churn rates among new customers would drop.

[SeeMoreDigital]

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@commanda6 wrote:

Hi @SeeMoreDigital

As far as I know vast majority of now TVs devices use H264.
With Roku/nowTV box I believe now TVs files are in MP4 format using the H264 codec

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All major streaming services use H264 on all their devices. As it's the widest supported video format by A/V decoding chip-set manufacturers. No other video format comes close

[4268]

I personally think that the list of sets to select from on now needs revising. I can see point of catch up and leaving soon. I think that they should include new. Why does kids collection need to be on front page when it is in the all TV shows section. Also usually the theme and featured should match.

[BicBasher]

Subs for the catch-up shows would be the most logical solution, although that doesn't stop a deaf person complaning that they can't watch The Simpsons as NOW TV doesn't have the catch-up rights.

There's always going to be churn with NOW TV thanks to the way it's designed to be, people may only pay for a pass to see the Ashes, Premier League, a certain film or themed film weekend or Game of Thrones then take a break.

Luckily there's enough for me to watch on the Ent pass alone to pay all year round.

[DarylM]

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@BicBasher wrote:

There's always going to be churn with NOW TV thanks to the way it's designed to be

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I would expect high churn on any no-contract monthly service.  Which is why I was surprised to see that, in the US, churn for Netflix is as low as cable services which run 12-month contracts.

I just assumed that most people would watch something for a bit then cancel every so often.  I guess these services are -individually - low-cost enough to keep going all year round.  But people who use Now TV, Netflix & Amazon are (probably?) more likely to switch between them.

[BicBasher]

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@DarylM wrote:

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@BicBasher wrote:

There's always going to be churn with NOW TV thanks to the way it's designed to be

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I would expect high churn on any no-contract monthly service.  Which is why I was surprised to see that, in the US, churn for Netflix is as low as cable services which run 12-month contracts.

I just assumed that most people would watch something for a bit then cancel every so often.  I guess these services are -individually - low-cost enough to keep going all year round.  But people who use Now TV, Netflix & Amazon are (probably?) more likely to switch between them.

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I keep my Netflix sub going as it's so low that I'm happy for them to take the £6.99pm I currently pay (£7.50 for new customers) and have so much content to watch, plus I can watch movies in 1080p which NOW TV don't provide.

As for Prime, I only use it when Amazon offer the annual 30 day free trial of their full Prime service, there's enough on there for me to watch in 30 days, then not use it again for 11 months.

I had the Movies pass for a few months last year,  then took a break and now back for three months.  If I'm offered a retention deal when I cancel the three month pass, I'll probably keep it for a short time longer.   I also like the ability to watch the real time Sky Movies channels in addition to back catalogue.