Research: US dominates global SVoD revenues
March 12, 2020
While SVoD services around the world continue to add subscribers at a prodigious rate, revenue continues to be highly concentrated in a few markets. According to research firm Strategy Analytics’ TV & Media Strategies (TMS) most recent SVoD forecast, Global SVoD Forecast, by Service (2010 – 2025), consumer spend on SVoD services globally was $53.34 billion (€47.55bn) in 2019. Of this, the US accounted for 43 per cent, followed by China (17 per cent), Germany (4 per cent), and the United Kingdom (4 per cent). Overall, the top ten countries account for 81 per cent of consumer spend on SVoD services.
| Rank | Country | % Share of Total SVoD Revenue |
|||||
| 1.) | United States | 43% | |||||
| 2.) | China | 17% | |||||
| 3.) | Germany | 4% | |||||
| 4.) | United Kingdom | 4% | |||||
| 5.) | Canada | 3% | |||||
| 6.) | France | 3% | |||||
| 7.) | Brazil | 2% | |||||
| 8.) | Japan | 2% | |||||
| 9.) | Mexico | 2% | |||||
| 10.) | Spain | 1% |
By 2025, global consumer spend on SVoD services will grow to $102.86 billion (€91.70bn). Of this, the US will account for 44 per cent, followed by China (15 per cent), and Germany (5 per cent).
Factors driving the US dominance of consumer spend on SVoD services include the following:
- While there are a handful of countries that are on par with the US, in general, US TV HHs are more likely to subscribe to SVoD services than those in other countries. In 2019, 74 per cent of US. TV HHs subscribed to one or more SVoD service. In comparison, the global average was 32 per cent.
- On average, US SVoD HHs are more likely to subscriber to multiple services than their counterparts in other regions. On average, US SVoD HHs subscribed to 2.45 SVoD services in 2019, by 2025 this will grow to 3.21. In comparison, SVoD HHs globally subscribed to 1.54 SVoD services in 2019, by 2025 this will grow to 1.82.
- Lastly, SVoD services tends to be more expensive in the U.S than in other countries, though that can vary by country and service. For example, Netflix is significantly more expensive in Denmark and Switzerland than the United States. Globally, the avg. spend per SVoD service in 2019 was $6.24 (€5.56), in the US the average was 63 per cent higher at $10.22 (€9.11) per SVoD service. Given that each SVoD household in the US subscribes to multiple services they spent an average of $22.52 (€20.08) per month on SVoD services, compared to $9.26 (€8.25) globally.
“Whether it is pay TV, video rental and sell-thru, or subscription VoD, US consumers have historically shown a willingness to spend on these products and services at a far greater rate than those in the vast majority of other countries,” advised Michael Goodman, Director, TV & Media Strategies. “There are many local and regional SVoD services around the world, these services must be realistic about the ultimate potential of SVoD revenues and not base their models on US levels of demand,” he suggested.