Factors affecting consumers’ willingness to subscribe to over-the-top (OTT) video streaming services in India

Abstract

Abstract Purpose The introduction of Over-the-Top (OTT) video streaming services through national and international providers like Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. has changed consumer behaviour towards entertainment subscription. The study aims to identify the reasons for subscribing and not subscribing to OTT services. The main objective is to test the factors affecting consumers OTT subscription decisions. Design/methodology/approach One hundred and sixty-eight responses were collected through snowball sampling technique and three hundred responses through Mturk. Consumers are categorized into three groups having only cable/DTH services, only OTT, and having both cable & OTT. The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive approach. Findings Fourteen reasons for subscribing and eleven reasons for not subscribing were identified and reported. Five factors, i.e., content, convenience, features, price & quality were extracted using Exploratory Factor Analysis. The effect of these five factors along with demographics of age, education, occupation is tested on subscription decisions using a logistic regression analysis. All the five factors affected consumer s decisions along with price inversely. Household structure was the major influencer along with age, occupation, and education. Originality/value The study not only comprehensively attempted to identify the reasons for subscribing and not subscribing OTT services, but also identified five major factors and their effect on consumers’ online subscription preferences. The context of the study is the Indian OTT service market which is highly heterogenous and therefore, this descriptive research provides useful insights to the OTT streaming service providers operating in this competitive space.