How Apple, Google and Amazon ‘Content Connectors’ Are Bringing Paid Music Back To The Masses
Spotify, Pandora and other streaming music services have struggled to get mainstream consumers to become paid users. But a new report, “Content Connectors: How the Coming Digital Content Revolution Will Change Everything,” by analysts MiDiA Research says that's about to change. The study shows how Content Connectors – devices like Apple TV, Google Chromecast and Amazon Kindle Fire TV – are driving paid music and video consumption beyond early adopters into the mainstream.
50% Of Content Connectors Pay For Music [CHART]
Owners of Content Connector devices are more than twice as likely as overall consumers to pay for digital content, according to the report. 35 million Content Connector devices have been sold with 10% of consumers globally and 13% in the U.S. now owning one. 50% of those device owners now pay for digital music and 51% pay for video. Overall, 48% are female, an early indicator that this is technology has true mainstream appeal.
Aggressive pricing is also helping to drive adoption. Amazon, Apple and Google have diverse ambitions, but are each is willing to to lose money on devices and/or content in order to establish their living room foothold.
“Smartphones and tablets did a great job of getting paid content kick started, but the market will truly lift off when it gets onto mainstream consumers’ most popular entertainment device, the TV,” according to report lead author Mark Mulligan. “Content Connectors will transform the face of paid content across all content genres."
The full report is available to MIDiA suscribers here.
I think that as streaming devices, i.e. Chromecast, Apple TV, Roku, become more accessible, and user-friendly, more people will opt-in to using the paid services the devices offer. Now, obviously there can be some debate as to whether people will buy the devices in order to better use the services they already pay for, or whether people will begin to use the services since they now have a way to stream them properly, but I do believe that with the access to the apps being more available on the devices there is a higher likelihood of someone purchasing a service that they see an option for every time they use the device. Think of it as a leftover pizza dilemma; it doesn’t matter why it’s in the fridge, but it is, you may not eat it, or want to eat it, but if you don’t it goes to waste and the longer it sits there, and you see it when you open the fridge, eventual you will take a bite.