The Continuing Global Growth Of SVOD
There is no doubt that the popularity of SVOD continues to grow, both in the UK and across the globe. By the end of 2012, almost 14.5 million households in the UK were subscribing to Pay TV. This figure put the UK at number nine in the list of countries with the most pay TV subscribers globally, after leaders China with 232.8 million households subscribing, India with 116.7 million households subscribing and the US with 100.2 million households subscribing.
One of the most watched subscription services in the UK is Amazon Prime which is popular for its access to up to date movies and TV series. We have already shown you the figures which tell you that SVOD growth is not just a UK phenomenon.
The growth of SVOD internationally
Even in France, where the SVOD market is relatively small, the future seems to have a positive look to it. When the figures were announced in 2012 the revenue from SVOD in this European country stood at just 20 million euros, but 40% of the French public stated they were interested in using an SVOD service.
The future of SVOD
Globally, it does not seem as though the growth of SVOD is going to slow down anytime soon. It is anticipated that by 2020 the global numbers for households subscribing to SVOD will pass 200 million. It seems that Netflix will continue to lead the way with global subscription rates expected to be at around 65 million. Other major players seem set to continue to experience growth as well. Subscription rates for Amazon Prime are expected to be at around 40 million and for Hulu at around 10 million.
These figures follow a slightly different pattern of popularity than it was indicated by research in the US in 2013 when 63% of those questioned stated that they used Netflix to access SVOD content, 35% said they used Hulu and 28% said they used Amazon Prime.
Whichever service actually is the most popular provider of SVOD content by 2020, the overall outlook is positive. One of the biggest reasons for the growth in popularity in SVOD content is the smart TV. Gone are the days when people watched SVOD content on a desktop PC or laptop; now they can watch on a myriad of large screen smart TVs. Of course, this means that families can watch together, which helps to improve the popularity of SVOD. In addition, anyone can continue watching on a mobile device if they have to leave their home and TV. This is a major positive for the growth of SVOD in an age when viewing content on a mobile device continues to rise in popularity.