New Gracenote report highlights impact of ineffective content discovery on consumer happiness with streaming

With nearly 50% of streamers willing to cancel a service based on difficulty finding something to watch, user experience is more important than ever

NEW YORK - Nov. 5, 2025 - Gracenote, the content data business unit of Nielsen, has released a wealth of new findings on global consumer attitudes and behaviors relating to video streaming in its 2025 State of Play report. The report concludes that video platforms relying on engagement to drive their businesses face major risks by not delivering user experiences that help viewers navigate massive amounts of available content.

Based on a new survey of consumers in the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Brazil and Mexico, the Gracenote report finds that nearly 33% of streaming users feel content and service fragmentation negatively impacts their TV experience. Among the 25-34 age group, that concentration rises to 40%. Despite general love for streaming among consumers in different countries and age groups, 45% say the streaming experience is overwhelming.

The longer it takes for viewers to find something to watch, the less enjoyable the experience becomes. On average, consumers globally spend 14 minutes searching for what to watch. In the U.S., the amount of time is 12 minutes, up from 10.5 minutes in mid-2023. French viewers spend a whopping 26 minutes searching for content, an amount of time equal to the length of an entire program episode.

When viewers can't quickly and easily find something good to watch, negative outcomes can result for platforms. The report finds that 19% of people will abandon a viewing session if their content search is not successful. This jumps to 29% for viewers in the 18-24 age group. Going further, 49% are willing to cancel a service based on difficulty finding what to watch.

Key features viewers want to improve their experiences include a single guide presenting content information across all services and for platforms to tell them where to find specific programs wherever they are available. In fact, 66% of survey respondents specified interest in these capabilities. With viewers going to the internet for content-related searches before using in-service capabilities, publishers and platforms have a significant opportunity to change behavior and keep users engaged.

"Effective search, discovery and recommendation capabilities that enable platforms to connect viewers to the content they'll enjoy most are more critical than ever," said Tyler Bell, SVP of Product at Gracenote." Organizations that deliver these capabilities will simplify the fragmentation of content and channels which impact viewers' entertainment experiences. In doing so, they can capitalize on opportunities to become the first and most valuable viewing sources for their users."

In addition to powering advanced content search, discovery and contextually driven ad targeting, Gracenote's industry-leading program metadata also provides insight into content enabling better, data-driven decision-making. The 2025 Gracenote State of Play report is based on findings from a recent survey of 3,000 consumers in Brazil, France, Germany, Mexico, the U.K. and the U.S. To download the free report, click here.

About Gracenote

Gracenote is the content data business unit of Nielsen, providing entertainment metadata, content IDs and related offerings to the world's leading creators, distributors and platforms. Gracenote has aggregated, normalized and enriched core program metadata covering 50M+ titles in 260+ streaming catalogs in 70+ languages and 80+ countries. Gracenote technology enables advanced content navigation and discovery capabilities helping individuals to easily connect to the TV shows, movies, music and sports they love while delivering powerful content analytics making complex business decisions simpler. For more information, visit Gracenote.com.

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