Too much of a good thing? Nielsen study finds streaming audiences are overwhelmed by amount of choices

Scrolling, scrolling, still scrolling …

A new study by Nielsen found that an overwhelming amount of streaming content is contributing to some viewers pressing the power button and walking away.

The newly released "State of Play" report says that over the last three years, the amount of streaming content and the explosion of streaming services may have given some too much control when it comes to what to watch. 

With more than 2.7 million individual video titles and nearly 40,000 different channels and streaming sources to choose from, 1 in 5 viewers in the study it's too much. After spending time browsing, they say they weren't sure what to watch and decided to do something other than watching television.  

According to the data, wasted time is also a big factor in viewers' frustrations. The study found that the average viewer spends 10 ½ minutes searching for something to watch. 

Nielsen says that personalization on each streaming channel and service is key to keep an audience engaged. 

"Recommendations and 'other people who watched' options are table stakes across platforms, but platforms have just barely scratched the surface of what a truly audience-centric experience could be," wrote Nielsen.

In the United States, streaming has been the dominant television option since November 2022, growing to account for 37.7% of television use in June of this year.