Media consumers may be reaching limit of streaming services

A British research company may have discovered a magic number for American media consumers — and it’s seven.

That’s seven streaming services, paid or free, that consumers are willing to subscribe to before the hassle of keeping track of log-ins and passwords just becomes too much, said Maria Rua Aguete, senior research director at the London-based media consultancy OMDIA.

For the past few years, OMDIA has been monitoring the average number of streaming services that online homes subscribe to, and it rose steadily from around 5 to 7.23 in the United States last November. But the latest survey, completed in April, showed that number had dropped to 7.06.

“It’s not that people want to watch less,” Rua Aguete said. “But people don’t like to keep so many streaming services and log-ins.”

If true, if seven is indeed the number where many consumers will draw the line, that has enormous business implications. It increases the importance of aggregators, or services where people can seamlessly collect their services, and make it harder for new companies to get into the business. It can also be the impetus for big business deals, like last month’s announced merger between Discovery and WarnerMedia.

That’s also a boost to the established companies. Netflix is the most popular paid streaming service, with 57% of online households in the U.S. subscribing to it. Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+ and HBO Max are the other leaders, OMDIA said. YouTube is tops among free services.

Meanwhile, in broadcast television last week, NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” was the most popular program.

ABC was the most-watched network in prime time, averaging 3.1 million viewers. CBS had 2.9 million viewers, NBC had 2.7 million, Fox had 2 million, Univision had 1.3 million, Ion Television had 980,000 and Telemundo had 910,000.

TNT led the cable networks with an average of 2.13 million viewers. Fox News Channel had 2.12 million, ESPN had 2.1 million, MSNBC had 1.33 million and HGTV had 1.18 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” led the evening news ratings race, averaging 7.6 million viewers last week. The “NBC Nightly News” had 6.1 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 4.8 million.

For the week of June 7-13, the most popular prime time programs, their networks and viewerships:

1. “America’s Got Talent,” NBC, 7.22 million.

2. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 6.51 million.

3. “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 4.84 million.

4. NBA Playoffs: Phoenix at Denver (Sunday), TNT, 4.22 million.

5. NBA Playoffs: Utah at L.A. Clippers (Saturday), ABC, 4.11 million.

6. “New Amsterdam,” NBC, 4.1 million.

7. NBA Playoffs: L.A. Clippers at Utah (Thursday), ESPN, 4.07 million.

8. “NCIS,” CBS, 4 million.

9. “The Good Doctor,” ABC, 3.99 million.

10. NBA Playoffs: Phoenix at Denver (Friday), ESPN, 3.96 million.

11. “United States of Al,” CBS, 3.92 million.