One benefit I heard called out was that early Betamax capped the tape capacity to one hour, which meant you couldn't record things like full sports games and quite a few movies. Sony didn't change this until VHS came along with its slower tape speeds and more recording time, and by then it was too late.

Also, VHS was cheaper, and while Betamax was technically inferior, it wasn't inferior in a way that the average buyer would notice.