Video buffering affects viewer engagement regardless of interest in the content: Study

The quality of video resolution and playback affects viewers engagement with and loyalty to video streaming services, a new study said on Thursday. According to the content delivery network services company Akamai Technologies, viewers disengage with emotive storylines and react negatively to low-quality streaming incidents like buffering regardless of the brand or interest in the content. The research showed that negative emotions increase 16 percent while engagement decreases nearly 20 percent as a result of poor streaming experiences. Nearly 76 percent of participants said they would stop using a service if issues such as buffering occurred several times. “This unique research shows there is no place for low-quality video in any streaming business model,” said Ian Munford, Director of Product Marketing, Media Solutions, Akamai. The research found that subscription video-on-demand brands lose the most engagement due to buffering while transactional video-on-demand models suffer the most negative impact to brand loyalty if delivering low-quality experiences.“The premium online video market is extremely competitive; the battle for revenue share is intense and subscriber acquisition costs are increasing, making differentiators like quality of experience more important than ever,” said Munford. The study was conducted by research firm Sensum for Akamai. Akamai is an American content delivery network.