Video streaming subscription growth sets new record

Tuesday, December 15th, 2020
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Strategy Analytics: Video Streaming Subscription Growth Sets New Record As Disney+ And Pandemic Continue To Drive Demand

  • 217.6M Annual Increase In Subscriptions in Q3 2020 Beats Previous Record

BOSTON — The continued strength of the video streaming market is confirmed by the latest analysis from Strategy Analytics’ TV and Media Strategies research. The report, Q3 2020 Global VOD Service Competitor Review, found that the annual increase in global Subscription Video-on-Demand (SVOD) subscriptions in Q3 2020 reached 217.6 million, the highest ever, beating the previous record of 211.7 million in Q4 2018. The annual increase grew for the third quarter in a row, after declining for the previous four quarters from Q1 2019 thru Q4 2019. The trend reflects the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on video consumption as well as the popularity of the Disney+ service.

Quarterly Increase in Global Streaming Video Subscriptions - 1Q 2017-3Q 2020

Based on analysis of 21 leading global SVOD services, the report found that subscriptions reached 769.8 million in Q3 2020, compared to 552.1 million a year earlier. The annual increase of 217.6 million represents a growth rate of 28.3% and suggests that the SVOD market is still a long way from reaching maturity. The report notes that major services such as Disney+ continue to expand geographically and the potential for SVOD in many countries is still largely untapped.

“Until early 2020 it looked like the SVOD growth curve was heading towards a plateau, but the annual growth rate has actually been accelerating during the past twelve months,” says Michael Goodman, Director, TV & Media Strategies. “Netflix of course remains the clear leader, but its share of subscriptions has been falling steadily as new entrants arrive. Disney’s rapid growth has helped it reach the #2 position in subscriptions, and with its various D2C services it has already reached an annual revenue run rate of $5.8B.”

“This evidence confirms that the transformation of TV is well under way,” notes David Mercer, VP and Principal Analyst. “SVOD services are playing a key role in changing the way people watch TV, and we expect hundreds of millions of homes worldwide to move away from traditional broadcast and pay TV over the coming decade.”