Viewers overwhelmed by streaming options and siloed platforms

 Streaming viewers face growing challenges navigating an increasingly fragmented video landscape, according to Gracenote’s 2025 “State of Play” report, which highlights the role of content discovery in viewer satisfaction and retention.

Released by the content data business unit of Nielsen, the report is based on an online survey of 3,000 respondents across six countries: the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Brazil and Mexico. The findings point to rising viewer frustration and potential subscriber churn driven by difficulties locating desirable content across multiple services.

Nearly one-third of respondents — 33 percent — say that content and service fragmentation is having a negative impact on their overall TV experience. Among viewers aged 25 to 34, that number increases to 40 percent. In parallel, 45 percent of all streaming viewers describe the volume of services and content as overwhelming, a sentiment expressed by 52 percent of those aged 18 to 34.

Although 75 percent of respondents say they enjoy their streaming experiences, 46 percent report that it is getting harder to find content due to the number of platforms. The effects of that difficulty are significant: 49 percent of viewers say they are very or somewhat likely to cancel a subscription if they can’t find something to watch. That number rises to 56 percent among viewers aged 25 to 34.

Gracenote also reports that 19 percent of streaming users frequently abandon their content searches and do something else instead. Among viewers aged 18 to 24, the abandonment rate rises to 29 percent.

The average time viewers spend browsing is also increasing.

Globally, respondents report spending 14 minutes searching for something to watch. In France, viewers report an average of 26 minutes. In the United States, the time has increased to 12 minutes, up from 10.5 minutes in 2023.

Fragmentation of distribution channels is especially apparent in sports content.

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Watching a full NFL season requires access to multiple services, including ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, ESPN, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, NFL Sunday Ticket, NFL Network and Peacock. In another example, a Sept. 21, 2025, MLB game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants was distributed across 51 linear channels, a subscription to MLB TV, five virtual multichannel video programming distributors and Amazon Prime Video at the local level.

In response to these challenges, many viewers rely on external tools to locate content.

Fifty-five percent say they use internet searches to find programs, slightly more than the 54 percent who browse within streaming platforms. In addition, 66 percent of respondents say they want a service to tell them where to find specific programs, even if the content resides on a different provider. The same percentage say they would prefer a unified guide or menu showing all available content.

“Effective search, discovery and recommendation capabilities that enable platforms to connect viewers to the content they’ll enjoy most are more critical than ever,” said Tyler Bell of Gracenote. 

The report also notes that 27 percent of viewers do not find existing recommendation engines helpful. Only 28 percent say they choose what to watch based on service recommendations.

Viewers across countries and age groups continue to value user experience highly. In Brazil and the U.S., 93 percent and 88 percent of respondents, respectively, say user experience, including layout, metadata accuracy, and visual presentation, is important.

The report concludes that the growing complexity of the streaming environment creates risks for content providers, but also presents opportunities to reduce friction and improve engagement through data-driven search and discovery technologies.

Gracenote’s “State of Play” report is based on survey data collected between July 28 and Aug. 1, 2025.