Entertainment
Americans love to be entertained: We spend nearly six hours per day, on average, watching video content.(1) Unfortunately that leads to sedentary, indoor behavior that is sometimes accompanied by unhealthy eating. For this category we selected a set of the most popular video streaming services – Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu and Apple TV+ (including the Apple TV hardware device and the Apple TV app). To provide some contrast, we also selected Niantic, a medium-sized startup company that has developed augmented reality mobile games such as Pokémon GO.
Overall Ratings
Company
H-Score
Highlights
The nature of television viewing is such that it would be hard for video streaming services to be rated positively for their influences on the behaviors that form the basis of the Building H Index. TV viewing is typically sedentary, it generally occurs indoors, it often interferes with sleep and it has been associated with unhealthy eating. All six of the video streaming services we profiled scored near the bottom of the Index and all were considered to have slight to moderate negative influences on all behaviors (with the exception of engaging socially). The differences among the services were subtle: some show advertisements (which can potentially negatively affect eating habits) and there were variations in how aggressively each deployed the autoplay technique to keep viewers watching. Niantic, whose games generally compel their users to get outdoors, move around physically and be social, scored far higher, although data showing that some users are sacrificing sleep to keep playing was a concern.
For the video streaming services, the key opportunities to facilitate healthier behaviors center on binge-watching. Simply put, getting people to spend more and more time watching video has a health opportunity cost, thus either eliminating or giving users more control over autoplay would be clear positive steps. (It is striking that some of the services even employ autoplay by default for children’s programming.)
Another opportunity, given the high number of people who report losing some sleep each week as a result of watching streaming video(2), is to establish a user-defined bedtime period and then – as has been done with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android – adapt the service to support the users’ intentions.
Methodology
The methodology for analyzing the video streaming services is described below. As the nature of their products is different, the methodology for Niantic was different and is detailed in the profile.
As television viewing has been associated with poor eating habits, we noted this connection. We also folded in our own consumer research on how often video streaming users eat meals or snacks while watching.(3) In addition, because the presence of advertising (and specifically food advertising) can exacerbate this effect, we indicated whether a service included commercial advertisements.
For physical activity, given the sedentary nature of the activity of television viewing, we focused on the presence of features that promote binge-watching (such as autoplay) or discourage viewing through usage limits or feedback on the amount of time spent viewing.
Our assessment of the influence on sleep was based on Building H consumer research on sleep habits of video streaming users, features that encourage binge-watching, and the presence or absence of a bedtime mode.
The research, both from the scientific literature and our own consumer surveys, on television viewing and social engagement suggests that television viewing is fairly evenly split between a solo activity and a social group activity. We looked specifically at whether a service had introduced social viewing features that enable people in different locations to watch the same programming synchronously.
The determination of the influence on getting outdoors was based on the understanding of television viewing as a typically indoor activity that competes directly with outdoor time.
Team
Research, analysis and writing by Nathaniel Braun, Brittany Sigler, Samara Shima and Steve Downs. Review and editing by Sara Singer and Steve Downs.
Notes
Sarah Perez. U.S. Adults Now Spend Nearly 6 Hours per Day Watching Video. TechCrunch, July 31, 2018
Steve Downs. A Survey of Modern Life: Sleep; New Data on American Sleeping Patterns. Building H on Medium. May 25, 2021
Steve Downs. A Survey of Modern Life: Food; Delivery Apps, Meal Kits, Groceries and Cooking Dinner. Building H on Medium. January 20, 2022