When it comes to video streaming services, customer satisfaction dropped compared to last year. Even though the video streaming service category saw a decline, the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) survey indicates subscription TV satisfaction increased.
What You Need to Know
- Video streaming satisfaction dropped to a score of 77 while subscription TV reached a record high of 72.
- Free, ad-supported services now appear to be rivaling many paid services in terms of user satisfaction.
- Users who bundle both streaming and traditional TV services report the highest overall satisfaction.
According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index Entertainment Study 2026, satisfaction in video streaming services slipped to 77 (on a scale of 0-100). Considering the category registered a satisfaction score of 78 last year, the drop is 1% overall.
Interestingly, this also marks the second year in a row that the category dropped 1%, following last year’s satisfaction score decline from 79 to 78.
Looking closer at the data, the top individual service (with a score of 79) is a four-way tie between Amazon Prime Video (unchanged from last year), Paramount+ (down 1%), YouTube Premium (down 1%), and Pluto TV.
This marks somewhat of a change from last year, when Paramount+, Peacock, and YouTube Premium all tied for first place with a score of 80.
With Pluto TV also now part of the current four-way tie at the top, this also marks the first time that a free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service has jointly held the top spot.
Adding to this, with The Roku Channel scoring 78 and Tubi registering 77, it would appear that the main free streaming services either match or beat out a number of premium paid subscription services.
Some of the reasons given for the overall drop in video streaming services, as well as some individual services, include rising subscription costs and mounting consumer fatigue.
For example, Netflix‘s score dropped to 78 (down 1%) and Apple TV‘s score dropped to 75 (down 3%). The study notes both of these drops followed a price increase impacting the streaming services.
Live TV Satisfaction Increases – But There’s a Catch
The latest ACSI study found that subscription TV service satisfaction climbed to 72. This not only marked a 3% increase on last year, but also the category’s highest score since ACSI began measuring the industry.
Although positive from the live TV industry perspective, there is an important caveat to note here.
This year, many of the main live TV streaming services (including DirecTV, Hulu Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV), were all moved from the video streaming category to the subscription TV category. A move which presumably helped increase the overall category’s satisfaction score.
In terms of these individual services, Hulu Live TV and YouTube TV scored highest with 77. Although this marked no change from last year for Hulu Live TV, YouTube TV’s score increased 1%.
Unfortunately for DirecTV (streaming) and Sling TV, both of these services saw a year-over-year decline of 1%. Sling TV dropped from 76 last year to 75 this year, and DirecTV (streaming) dropped from 72 last year to 71.
A last point to note is that consumers who combine video streaming and subscription TV scored 80, making them the most satisfied segment overall.
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