The annual American Customer Satisfaction Index of the telecommunications industry in 2024 has found that consumer satisfaction with streaming services hit an all time high while satisfaction with pay TV services and internet providers also grew. 

The ACSI Telecommunications Study 2024 found that streaming satisfaction rose by 3% to 79 on a scale of 1 to 100, satisfaction with internet providers rose by 4% to 71 and satisfaction with pay TV services rose by 1% to 70. 

The rising satisfaction rates found by the annual ACSI survey provides good news for an industry that has faced high levels of consumers canceling services, price hikes, a crackdown on password sharing, pricing strategies that force consumers into ad-supported tiers and ongoing financial losses. 

The researchers said that the results indicate that streaming services are winning the TV battle as more consumers continue to cut the cord. While customer experience scores are generally higher across the board for streaming services compared to subscription TV, programming—and especially the original programming that streaming offers—is a key differentiator. 

The only programming area where subscription TV dominates is sports programming. 

In addition, it appears that consumers are getting used to life without cable TV as the satisfaction of those who no longer or never had subscription TV service has increased substantially. Despite the rosy outlook for streaming, cost concerns do seem to be forming on the horizon as ad-supported services show a rise in satisfaction.

ACSI results are based on surveys conducted over a 12-month period ending in March 2024. 

Other key takeaways include: 

• Customer satisfaction with internet service providers surges 4% year over year to a score of 71, with results varying by internet type. Fiber internet (76) proves far superior to non-fiber internet (68).
• Among fiber providers, AT&T again tops the list at 80, while several fiber ISPs land within 3 to 4 points of the leader.
• The non-fiber segment is led by 5G providers T-Mobile and Verizon, who significantly outpace the other non-fiber providers for satisfaction.
• Call center satisfaction lags significantly for both fiber and non-fiber providers, falling substantially below the other customer experience metrics.
• Despite losing subscribers for the 13th consecutive year, customer satisfaction for the pay TV industry remains relatively steady from last year.
• Verizon Fios is the leader among subscription TV services with an ACSI score of 75.
• Sports programming is a strength for subscription TV services compared to video streaming services.
• Video streaming customer satisfaction rises 3% from 2023 to an all-time high score of 79 in 2024.
• Although the occurrence of complaints declines in 2024, complaint handling worsens this year, down 6% to 68.
• Amazon Prime Video (82) is the highest-rated video streaming service, moving into sole possession of first place.

TROY, Mich.—The newest J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Television Service Provider Satisfaction Study finds that live TV streaming customers are much more loyal than cable and satellite services, with only 12% of virtual MVPD customers planning to switch services in the next year, much lower than the 21% of cable and satellite subs who say they plan to switch. 

The study also found that customer satisfaction with live TV streaming providers is higher across all seven factors considered by J.D. Power. 

YouTube TV had the highest customer satisfaction. 

Most notably, satisfaction with the cost of service is 156 points higher (on a 1,000-point scale) among live TV customers than among cable and satellite customers, given the cost for live TV streaming averages $69 per month vs. $113 per month for cable and satellite.

“Although the cost of running a cable or satellite providing company is innately more expensive given the engineering and execution of such a service, it is hard to ignore the vast difference in cost between them and the live TV streaming companies,” said Carl Lepper, senior director of technology, media and telecom intelligence at J.D. Power. “Despite the varying cost, streaming is succeeding in all areas, especially customer care. Of the mere 30% of all streaming customers contacting customer service this year, 84% feel that it was somewhat or very easy to resolve their problem. This is key to not only maintaining their current customer base, but also for continued growth.”

The study looks at satisfaction across six categories. 

In the live TV streaming segment, customer satisfaction was 781, up from 774 last year.

In the cable/satellite TV–national segment, satisfaction improved to 701, slightly up from 699 last year.

In the cable/satellite TV, east region, customer satisfaction was 697, the same as last year.

In cable/satellite TV, north central region, customer satisfaction was 683 now compared to 688 last year.

In the cable/satellite TV, south region, customer satisfaction was 719, up from 710 last year.

In the cable/satellite TV, west region, customer satisfaction was 694 slightly down from 696 last year.

Rankings for individual providers by sector were as follows:

Troy, Mich.—In a period when residential internet customers have had to rely heavily on their internet service provider to stay connected for work, school and entertainment, the newest J.D. Power rankings of customer satisfaction for internet providers found that two-thirds (66%) of customer satisfaction is driven by the quality and speed of their internet connection. 

“The internet essentially became as or more important than other home utilities when the world nearly came to a halt in early 2020, and its importance has remained as businesses and schools have adjusted to new working environments,” said Ian Greenblatt, managing director at J.D. Power. “While overall satisfaction had been increasing since 2018, it has declined since last year, showing that as the necessity of internet service has increased, so have the expectations of customers.”

The J.D. Power 2021 U.S. Residential Internet Service Provider Satisfaction Study, found that Verizon ranked highest in the East region with a score of 758 (on a 1,000-point scale), followed by Comcast’s Xfinity (725).

AT&T ranked highest in the North Central region with a score of 732, followed by WOW! (730) and Xfinity (716).

AT&T ranked highest in the South region with a score of 753, followed by Xfinity (740).

Midcontinent ranks highest in the West region with a score of 754, followed by AT&T (728) and Xfinity (723).

More detailed rankings can be found in the graphics below. 

The 2021 U.S. Residential Internet Service Provider Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 27,181 customers that currently have internet service with a provider included in the study. The study measures overall satisfaction with internet service providers based on five factors: performance and reliability; cost of service; communications and promotions; billing and payment; and customer service. The study was fielded from October 2020 through July 2021.

TROY, Mich.—The new customer satisfaction survey of pay TV providers from J.D. Power highlights the importance of streaming services in the overall consumer experience and provides some interesting data bolstering the increasingly widespread pay TV strategy of bundling streaming services with traditional pay TV offerings.  

The report found that satisfaction with the cost of service among residential television customers who also have a streaming service is 81 points higher (on a 1,000-point scale) than among those who do not have a streaming service, reinforcing the idea that operators should be making streaming services easily accessible on their user interface.  

The report also found evidence that customers are still finding value in the pay TV video subscription. Among customers who have a streaming service and typical cable TV, 91% told J.D. Power that they will not be dropping their TV service in the next 12 months, a stat that indicates those customers have not found all of what they are looking for outside of the traditional pay TV landscape, the report noted. 

“The use of streaming services not only provides a more cost effective way to watch television, it also provides the ability to stream personalized and live content anytime, anywhere,” said Ian Greenblatt, managing director at J.D. Power. “Customers with highly satisfying streaming experiences will continue to seek increased convenience, personalization and relevant content elsewhere if not delivered by traditional television providers.”

In terms of national rankings, Dish was the highest with 751 out of a possible 1,000, followed by DirecTV (731), Comcast’s Xfinity (723) and Charter’s Spectrum (702). The industry average was 721. 

In the “East Region” Verizon was first with 750, followed by Dish (747), DirecTV (742).

Dish ranked highest in the North Central segment with a score of 746, followed by AT&T (735) and Xfinity (717).

AT&T ranked highest in the South segment with a score of 762, followed by Dish (760) and DirecTV (742).

Dish ranked highest in the West segment with a score of 744, followed by AT&T (734) and DirectTV (721).

The full rankings for individual operators are in the graphics below the article. 

The 2021 U.S. Residential Television Service Provider Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 21,555 customers who currently have television service with a provider included in the study. The study measures overall satisfaction with television service providers based on seven factors: Performance and Reliability; Cost of Service; Programming; Communications and Promotions; Billing and Payment; Features and Functionality; and Customer Service. The study was fielded from October 2020 through July 2021.

Elite badminton players from around the world congregate each year to compete in the Malaysia Open, an important stop on the circuit of tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). Fans unable to make it to Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil this year were kept apprised of the latest updates via high-quality YouTube live streams produced by Macking Domain. Over the course of the six-day tournament, more than 12 hours of match footage across four courts were streamed to the Malaysia Open YouTube channel. Macking Domain relied on a host of technology to deliver the action, including four AJA HELO H.264 recording and streaming devices.

Given a straightforward set of video delivery requirements by its client, Macking Domain set out to establish a workflow built on AJA’s HELO. “We needed to deliver 1080/60p video with audio from each of the four courts and get live scoreboard content from each court integrated into the feed, which is why AJA’s HELO made so much sense,” shared Yoke Tee Tan, General Manager, Macking Domain. “It’s an affordable device that makes it incredibly easy to bring audiences a very high-quality viewing experience.”

Four Sony cameras, one on each court, were connected to a Newtek VMC1 digital media production system and captured live match footage. Courtside laptops housing scoreboard feeds were then encoded to NDI, and audio was embedded from each court using AJA Mini-Converters. Embedded audio signals came in as an NDI stereo channel via a network device interface converter and were split into two separate mono channels on a TriCaster video production system. The eight mono channels were routed to the corresponding scoreboard and linked with the associated court stream using 1 M/E; that signal was then routed to each SDI output on the VMC1. All four SDI outputs from the VMC1 were connected to four AJA HELO units for live streaming straight to YouTube; footage was simultaneously recorded to SD cards in HD using the HELOs.

“The results were impressive,” shared Tan. “All four HELO units streamed seamlessly with no delays or setbacks, and the UI presets made it easy to save and recall settings in a single click, which helped ensure a consistent look across streams.”

About HELO

AJA’s HELO allows users to simultaneously stream video signals to Web Content Delivery Networks while encoding and recording H.264 files to SD cards, USB storage or network-based storage with the push of a button. Supporting a range of professional workflows, the H.254 streaming, recording and encoding device includes 3G-SDI and HDMI inputs and outputs and the power to handle up to 1080p recording formats among other features. www.aja.com/products/helo

About AJA Video Systems, Inc.

Since 1993, AJA Video has been a leading manufacturer of video interface technologies, converters, digital video recording solutions and professional cameras, bringing high quality, cost effective products to the professional, broadcast and postproduction markets. AJA products are designed and manufactured at our facilities in Grass Valley, California, and sold through an extensive sales channel of resellers and systems integrators around the world. For further information, please see our website at www.aja.com.

COSTA MESA, Calif.—According to the J.D. Power 2019 U.S. Residential Television Service Provider Satisfaction Study, there is a clear number one provider among customers across the country. Dish ranked as the top service in the East, West, North Central, South and overall nation surveys, with an average score of about 762 out of 1,000.

AT&T/DirecTV was the second-ranked service nationally and in the West, North Central and South regions; it was third in the East behind Verizon. AT&T’s average score came out to 743 and customers rated it “among the best” in one region, “better than most” in two and “about average” in another two.

One element that J.D. Power specifically looked at its customer satisfaction study was the what happens when customers reach out about service disruptions or high bills. According to the survey, customers who attempted to address a high bill were significantly less satisfied than those who called for other reasons, like service outages. Nearly 40% of respondents who had a high bill feel they didn’t achieve a resolution.

The full study is available here.