Polish consumer video spend on track for 25% growth

Polish Consumer Video Spend on Track for 25% Growth, with SVoD Chasing Down Pay-TV

Poland’s SVoD market continues to power through a growth curve, with spend closing in on PLN1 billion at the close of 2019, as the Netflix subscriber base increased to 1.6 million.

“From just 300,000 subscribers in 2017, Netflix’s reputation for quality local and international content has enabled it to more than double its subscriber base in Poland year after year,” says Tristan Veale, Market Analyst at Futuresource Consulting. “Its Polish original series ‘1983’ premiered in late 2018, helping the streaming service to become the most subscribed-to SVoD service in 2019 just three years after launch.”

SVoD Narrowing Gap to Pay-TV as Operators Switch Focus to Netflix Fight

Pay-TV continues to dominate the Polish video landscape, accounting for 75% of total entertainment spend in 2019 and is one of the more dynamic marketplaces compared to its European peers. With limited expensive legacy infrastructure, operators are free to diversify and are investing in SVoD either alone or as joint ventures. “As is the case in Germany, Discovery is partnering with Pay-TV, this time with leading Polish provider Cyfrowy Polsat,” commented Veale. “However, the joint venture is entering a market where both parties already have an active service. Player.pl from TVN, a subsidiary of Discovery, is the second largest SVoD service in Poland after Netflix, whereas IPLA, the offering from Cyfrowy Polsat, has the most active users of any service but the third highest number of paying subscribers, due to a free ad-supported tier. Whether the market will be able to sustain these services and the joint ventures long-term remains to be seen.”

The expected net result is SVoD spend approaching that of Pay-TV. At of the end of 2019, SVoD commanded an 11% share of total entertainment spend. However, Futuresource forecasts show that by 2023, for every two Polish Zloty (PLN) spent on a Pay-TV subscription, one Polish Zloty will be spent on SVoD. That’s one of the closest ratios of Pay-TV to SVoD spend compared to any other country worldwide.

Box Office shows its strength

Polish Box Office continues to enjoy high demand, particularly when it comes to local content. The Polish film ‘Miszmasz czyli Kogel Mogel 3’ was the highest-grossing movie of 2019, with two more Polish titles in the year’s top six. Admissions were up 5% and exceeded 62 million, equivalent to 1.6 admissions per person. This is ahead of Germany but some way behind the UK and France. Futuresource expects admissions to continue to grow throughout the forecast period.

“The current rise of the Polish video entertainment market is phenomenal,” says Veale. “It is undergoing the most rapid period of change it has ever experienced. As a result, we expect consumer spending to grow by 25% between 2019 and 2023, finishing the period on PLN11.2 billion (US$ 2.6 billion).”

Futuresource Consulting’s Poland Video Insights market report reviews the overall video entertainment market and assesses the impactors and drivers as the sector evolves. Key areas covered include Electronic sell-through (movie and TV), iVoD (movie), subscription online video (SVoD), Pay-TV VoD, DVD and Blu-ray (sell-through and rental), subscription Pay-TV and Box Office.