Samuel Altman
Consumer Behavior

Behavior Model
David Ashley

Online Streaming Services
Consumer Behavior

The growing business of online streaming services is one that is that is redefining itself constantly. This is due to the cut throat competition between current top competitors and those fresh ventures that want a piece of the heavy cash flow pouring into these services that often receive a month to month payment due to their “subscription” based nature. It is becoming abundantly clear that not only our nations youth, but the entire world’s youth, are becoming more interested, and even more aggressively put: absorbed by technology. The intriguing facet to consider when delving into this subject is the declared opinion that held that cable television is technology of the past. Those who partake or in other words subscribe are one very crucial segment to my investigation of an emerging issue that will affect each and every consumer that partakes in the consumption of entertainment. Also included in the first segment will be those who pay for cable packages that include some online streaming capabilities. This segment includes companies such as Time Warner's’ cable company and included in that is the subsidiary,
Home Box Office or HBO for short. HBO creates original content and buys the rights to certain content it puts out as well. HBO does not only compete as a premium cable channel but also has an online streaming segment that comes with an HBO channel subscription called HBO Go. My next segment will be the segment of consumers who for the most part have moved on from the proverbial world of cable-television and use the well known online streaming services which have grown at an astonishing speed. This segment focuses on Netflix which is the top competitor in this segment but includes the likes of Amazon Prime, Vimeo, Hulu and plenty of other competitors. All four companies have created original content of their own and provide

content that is owned by other people by virtue of purchased acquisition or allowance of users to post for free. Both segments seek to satisfy entertainment needs, but have different beliefs as to what their consumer segments "value" in their experience. In this paper I will discuss the consumer segments of both aforementioned platforms and produce sufficient evidence that the cable-television sector must adapt or die to rival the innovative business models of their competitors that are rapidly absorbing their consumer base.
For large cable companies that almost monopolistically dominate their consumer segments; subscribers fall under any possible demographic, physiographic and behavioral graphic since channel options have tremendous range. What is offered can be changed since different regions offer specific cable networks. Depending on your region and cable plan, the media that can be accessed will vary enormously. Need recognition may find itself in life-style engraved patterns. Someone who has grown up for many reasons and has formed cable television preferences or habits may find more value in his or her habitual relationship with a cable provider than with the value of readily available streaming material available online.
Younger segments may have not established this habitual relationship and opt for free media or the cheaper alternatives provided online. Though the consumer looking to have a variety of channels may also view channels as a larger asset than licensed media on Netflix for example.
Plenty of cable companies now post a wide variety of their own media online already to compete with specific value consumers derive from stand-alone online streaming services.
Subscription payments to cable companies are definitely a larger expense than most, if not all, stand-alone online streaming services require reaching prices around $100.00. For example, the Time Warner Cable website lists its, “Preferred TV w/ Whole House DVR” package for $79.99 a month. Since many cable users have an