Digital video spend to pass packaged media in Netherlands this year

Digital video expenditure is forecast to exceed consumer spending on packaged media in the Netherlands this year, driven by pay TV, video-on-demand and Netflix, according to research by Futuresource Consulting.

According to Futuresource, digital expenditure will account for 66% of home video expenditure this year, with the overall digital video market set to grow by 51%, with retail expenditure totaling €215 million. SVoD is expected to produce turnover of €111 million this year, driven by the Netflix effect. SVoD is predicted to account for 55% of all home video spend by 2018, reaching €240 million.

Pay TV will continue to account for the bulk of overall video expenditure, at 72% of the total, accourding to Futuresource, following a modest decline in pay TV in 2014. Pay TV VoD grew by 8% last year and is expected to grew by a similar amount this year.

The overall video entertainment market, including digital video, box office, packaged video and subscription TV, totaled over €2 billion in 2014 and is expected to rise to over €2.1 billion this year.

“The Dutch video market tends to share similarities with the Nordics, more than any other European country, with rapid SVoD uptake and over 20% decline in packaged video,” says Joanna Wright, senior market analyst at Futuresource Consulting.

“This shifting mix of video business was compounded by the bankruptcy of leading retailer, Free Record Shop, just a few months prior to Netflix’s launch.”