The digital storytelling content platform provider surveyed over 22,450 global consumers across its numerous publisher partner sites including Variety, NBCU, MacWorld, Hollywood Life and Tech Advisor. When asked about how they felt about the upcoming platforms like Apple TV Plus, Disney+, HBO Max, 61% said agreed with the statement that they were ‘honestly sick’ of signing up for new streaming services, while 16.5% said that it makes sense that all of these companies want to get in on streaming and original content. Nearly a quarter of the sample didn’t know about half of the new platforms.

There was though an interesting revelation when it came to preferences for SVOD or increasingly popular AVOD systems. Just over a third indicated that they would opt for an ad-supported platform, yet 44% said they’d rather just have a subscription and skip the ads. Just over a fifth didn’t have any string preference either way.

Looking at the prospects for the new Disney+ service, the study found that the majority of global users (59%) feel that they have too many services, and have no immediate plans to sign up for Disney’s new platform. Just over a fifth said that they would sign up for the soon to launch offer.

Of the existing offers, Netflix was by far the most popular and its content was preferred by 60% of the survey followed by Amazon Prime Video on 27% and Hulu on 13%. Only a tenth of the sample indicated that they would cancel their existing Netflix subscription once Disney+ came out while 28% said that they would make a call once they say what the new kid on the block had to offer. A resounding 61% would not consider nixing Netflix for the new Disney offer.

Yet the Apester survey showed that all was not rosy in the garden for the SVOD leader. In the sample, 27% agreed that Netflix continued to provide quality content, consistently putting out good shows and films, while 29% begged to differ, believing that the quality of the content has declined significantly. The majority position, 44%, was taken by those who thought Netflix had some hits and some misses.

Undoubtedly, one of the Netflix hits has been Friends and the classic comedy was a cause of some controversy when HBO decided to pull the programme from Netflix when the current rights deal ends in 2020.

Indicating the importance of Rachel, Joey, Chandler and the gang, a quarter of the sample from the Apester research said that they would end their subscription when Friends left Netflix and 15.% would wait and see. Three-fifths said they would keep Netflix for other reasons.