Survey: Germany SVoD adoption continues to rise
March 30, 2022
Results from the Kagan year-end 2021 Germany Consumer Insights survey show a substantial spike in online subscription video use last year, with overall SVoD use climbing 9 percentage points over 2020 to 81 per cent.
Use of Amazon Prime Video, the most widely used SVoD service among respondents in Germany, reached 52 per cent at year-end 2021, an increase of 24 percentage points from 2017 and a 7 percentage point growth year over year. Netflix was not far behind, with 22 per cent of internet households using the service in 2017, climbing to 49 per cent in 2021.
The survey found that most SVoD services in Germany showed at least modest subscriber growth last year. Both RTL’s TV Now service and Deutsche Telekom’s Magenta TV showed positive year-over-year growth, each reaching 14 per cent of internet households. Joyn+ — a joint venture offering from ProSiebenSat.1 and Discovery — Apple TV+, Zattoo and Eurosport Player were statistically flat year over year.
SVoD stacking is also a growing trend in Germany. At year-end 2021 the average internet household subscribed to just over two SVoD services, double the number from just four years ago. The vast majority of households subscribing to an SVoD service for the first time in 2021 subscribed to either Prime Video or Netflix. Yet, overall, Prime Video and Netflix users both average three SVoD subscriptions per household, while those using Disney+ and the Sky Ticket service average over four SVoD service subscriptions.
Despite typically having multiple SVoD subscriptions, Netflix users report that they spend, on average, more than half (55 per cent) of their daily SVoD viewing hours watching Netflix content. Prime Video content consumes an average of 41 per cent of daily SVoD viewing hours for its subscribers. SVoD service providers with a majority of users subscribing to four or more SVoD services find it difficult to capture more than one-quarter of daily SVoD viewing time. An exception to this rule is DT’s Magenta TV service where its users spend nearly half (47 per cent) of their daily SVoD viewing hours watching Magenta TV/video content, despite subscribing to 3.8 SVoD services, on average.
In addition to SVoD services, three-quarters (75 per cent) of internet adults in Germany also watch free online ad-supported video services. The survey found that over half (55 per cent) watch YouTube short-form videos. German public service broadcasters ZDF and ARD also have popular online services, attracting 42 per cent and 40 per cent viewership, respectively. Over one-third (37 per cent) of surveyed internet adults said they watch videos on Facebook. Other US-based AVoD services, including Twitch, Pluto TV and Peacock have attracted a much more modest following among German consumers.
The continued expansion of SVoD/AVoD households in Germany, as well as a growing trend toward SVoD stacking has translated into more time watching VoD content. For example, in 2017 60 per cent of survey internet adults reported watching primarily live TV compared to only 26 per cent in 2021. The growing number of new SVoD households can be seen among those who watch mostly live TV, expanding from 22 per cent in 2017 to 37 per cent last year. Those spending one-half or more of their daily TV/video hours watching VoD content has grown from 19 per cent in 2017 to 36 per cent in 2021.