Overcoming the Challenge of Too Much Choice

As streaming providers have become content creators and visa versa, the volume of content available to consumers has increased dramatically. Today, audiences have innumerable options presented to them. Netlfix’s UK catalaog includes over 3,000 titles (not including individual episodes). Magnify this by the number of streaming platforms available and it is easy to understand that video service providers are creating a paralysis of choice. 

Author Barry Schwartz explored the challenge of consumer demand for choice in his 2004 book  “Paradox of Choice”. He defines the paradox, saying “… that having many options to choose from, rather than making people happy and ensuring they get what they want, can cause them stress and problematize decision-making.”

In other words, even as a person without choices is unhappy and becomes more satisfied as more choices are presented, there is a point past which their satisfaction peaks and they return to dissatisfaction. A person can be overwhelmed by the abundance of options if the options are not distinct. 

This challenge is magnified when your audience isn’t sure what they want to watch. While picking a genre helps, it only narrows the selection down to hundreds or thousands of films. And, the user still needs to search across multiple services. 

Too much choice impacts audiences and content distribution alike:

• It makes it harder for lesser-known content to be discovered, as audiences are less likely to take risks when pressed to make a decision
• It can make it harder for groups, friends and families to decide on a film
• It becomes more likely that audiences will feel less satisfied with the content they’re watching, leading to a reduction in watch time

The average UK household has an average of 2.3 streaming subscriptions. They face a proliferation of choice with content spread across multiple services. Imagine a viewer has decided to watch an old film or has heard about a new title through friends. They might have to search through two, three or even four services to find the content they want. Lack of content aggregation causes lost time and a poor user experience. 

Content aggregation is on the rise, which means that aggregated metadata will be critical to content discovery. Enriched metadata helps customers deliver guides and data that reduces viewer “time-to-enjoyment’ of the titles they seek. MetaBroadcast is a firm believe in the power of metadata to transform the way content is curated and presented to audiences.  Our next blog will explain how a tighter metadata strategy can help reduce a viewer’s paralysis of choice.

This blog is an extract from our whitepaper “Understanding and Combating Viewer “Paralysis of Choice’. To access the full white paper, please request a copy here.