SVOD sign ups slow down following bumper Q1

The SVOD market in the UK has slowed in the wake of a surge inspired by the launch of Disney+ in March.

According to data analytics firm Kantar, there were 6 million SVOD sign ups during the 3 months to April, but this dipped dramatically down to 826,000 in Q2.

Of course, the surge in subscriptions was not entirely down to Disney’s nascent streamer – the stay-in-place order which came into place at the end of March also had a significant effect on consumers ramping up their video watching.

The report noted that while Disney+ achieved 52% of all subscription sign ups in Q1, this dropped down to 22% of all new video subscriptions in Q2, indicating that the mouse house was at least able to capitalise on the lockdown.

In the latest quarter it is Amazon Prime Video which proved to be the most successful, securing 45% of all sign ups in Q2, driven by free trial promotions such as a recently announced partnership with Vodafone. This is a dramatic increase from Q1, when Amazon captured only 12.9% of all sign ups.

The firm noted that Netflix continues to be the most popular streamer, with Ozark, La Casa Del Papel and Tiger King being the most watched shows. The leading SVOD captured 11.7% of all sign ups in the quarter, down from 19.4% in Q1.

Dominic Sunnebo, SVP at Kantar, Worldpanel Division, said: “It is no surprise that Q220 didn’t see a repeat of the huge SVoD subscriber boost seen in the first quarter, which had the highly unusual combination of Disney+ launching and the UK in lockdown for the majority of the period. Amazon Prime took the highest share of new subscribers in the quarter, with the increase in overall online shopping as a result of COVID-19 measures, likely helping to make Prime membership, and it’s free delivery system, a more attractive proposition to British consumers.

“Whilst most platforms have seen usage fall slightly in the second quarter, as life in the UK edges back to normality, Disney+ in particular has seen a notable increase in lighter users, as schools begin to return back.