How to measure viewer retention for SVOD companies?

Measure video engagement is a fundamental tool for any company that seeks to maintain the level of loyal consumers to its product or service in the area of audiovisual content and, specifically, video service players.

When we talk about measuring viewer retention, we refer to the measurement of the number of customers or users that a brand has after a certain period of time, which for a video playback service is, specifically, the people who watch its content. At JUMP Data Driven, a business data management platform designed specifically for video service players, we explain in this article the importance of measured video engagement.

How to measure viewer retention in SVOD?

To measure the viewer retention rate on SVOD platforms, Subscription Video on Demand,  a number of elements and a formula must be taken into account:

  • The number of viewers at the beginning of a period (S). 
  • The number of viewers at the end of a period (E).
  • New viewers gained during that period (N).

The formula would look like this: 

Viewer retention rate = (E – N) / S.

To obtain the final percentage of the rate and measure video engagement in a period (month, semester, year), the following operation is then performed:

Final viewers – New viewers / Initial viewers x 100.

 Importance of viewer retention 

Viewer retention is a very important tool to keep the attention of users, who are the ones who give meaning to our video playback services. To achieve this, it is necessary to create content and employ strategies that arouse the curiosity of our target audience. 

We can describe a number of reasons that show the importance of viewer retention and measure video engagement:

  • The success of the project can be measured through the retention of viewers, the degree of user satisfaction with respect to the service or product of your brand will determine a higher or lower retention rate. This should be higher than the abandonment rate, to know whether the right strategies are being applied.
  • Viewer retention strategies can be truly economical: strategies to retain viewers (marketing, advertising) will undoubtedly have a lower cost than those applied to get new viewers and users.
  • Viewer retention and measure video engagement benefits profits: a user satisfied with a content is very likely to watch it again, continue with the saga or search for other content in the same channel. 
  • It brings sustainable growth to the company: viewers that are retained allow the company to grow sustainably. The higher the viewer retention rate, the better the economic revenue rate. 

Tips to improve viewer retention rate

Keep in mind the following points to obtain good results when measuring video engagement:

  • Create original videos that will keep the audience’s attention until the end of the content.
  • If the interest rate is measured periodically, the result can give a glimpse of what the errors are so that you can improve.
  • Focusing on design, typography, color palette and server performance will be of great help.
  • When creating a page, it is essential that the site is responsive and easy to read on any electronic device with Internet access.

At JUMP TV, we have a very useful tool that leverages AI to predict the behaviors of our customers and prevent them from abandoning the video platform, JUMP RETENTION. If you want more information, don’t hesitate to ask us.