Growth Of DirecTV Now
AT&T’s DirecTV Now brought many new changes into streaming television arena, and that earned it a quick popularity among the customers. The broadcaster has never disclosed any details regarding their subscriber numbers, although a new study by a top streaming industry analyst claims that DirecTV Now is growing big.
According to Dan Rayburn, who is the principal analyst for Frost & Sullivan, AT&T’s online video service has peaked about 35,000 simultaneous viewers. He backed up his study on the data obtained from some third party suppliers that deliver video content for DirecTV Now. The results of this data have demonstrated the success of this streaming platform and the popularity that it had achieved among the customers.
He further clarified some aspects regarding this growing subscriber base of DirecTV Now. However, the simultaneous usage figure never represents the actual number of subscribers of the streaming service. It is, in fact, an industry average stating that 25 percent of users are relying on the streaming service in a neighborhood of 140,000 people.
This subscriber figure is also indicative of the customers who are test-running the service for free in their first 30 days trial period. Rayburn stated, “While I don’t know what percentage of total users are paid versus non-paid, I would estimate AT&T has less than 100,000 paying subs for their new service since it launched.”
Online Video Service
There has also been a lot of negative buildup in the new and growing amounts of subscribers signing up for the service. This is attributed to the many technical and service issues that DirecTV Now has suffered in the days after its launch. In addition to that, the company also dropped its $35 per month promotional price for its 100-channel lineup, which was offered in order to stir a quick subscription rate.
Rayburn concluded the results of the data by suggesting that, “When a service like AT&T’s struggles with reliability, video quality and functionality, and has non-existent support for consumers, it’s not going to fare well. DirecTV Now won’t have any material impact on cable TV subscriber numbers and isn’t a catalyst for cord cutting.”
This is highly relevant since the streaming service is still caught up in many technical issues and has been unsatisfactory for most customers. AT&T should address these issues pertaining to both technical and the service to earn credibility among the subscribers. Interestingly, AT&T has denied to comment on the estimated data on DirecTV Now.
