North American SVOD subscriptions set to grow dramatically

The number of North American subscription video-on-demand subscriptions ­– specifically for SVOD movie, linear channel and TV series services and excluding the likes of sports streaming services –­ will grow from 160 million in 2018 to 270 million in 2024, according to forecasts from Digital TV Research.

These figures represent individual SVOD subscriptions rather than SVOD subscribers, many of whom subscriber to multiple services.

Digital TV Research forecasts that 77.8% of TV households, or 94 million homes in the region, will subscribe to at least one SVOD platform by 2024. The average SVOD household will pay for 2.89 SVOD subscriptions. This compares to 70% of TV households, or 84 million homes, subscribing to at least one SVOD platform at the end of last year. The average SVOD subscriber paid for 1.91 SVOD platforms at end-2018.

Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “Several high profile SVOD launches are imminent. We expect that Disney+ will have 25 million US subscribers by 2024. Apple TV+’s growth will be more modest at 8 million by 2024. This means that Netflix’s share of the total will fall from 37% in 2018 to 25% in 2024 – despite the company adding 10 million subscribers.”