Research |
Research : UK SVoD decline accelerates
The latest Entertainment on
Demand data on the UK ’ s
streaming market from insights
and consulting company
Kantar reveal that SVoD market
decline accelerated by 488k
households , with 1.66m SVoD
services cancelled during
the second quarter
of 2022 . This follows
1.51m cancellations
in the first quarter of
the year . Kantar ’ s data
suggests that the decline
is driven in almost equal
part by a decrease in
households taking out
new subscriptions and
an increase in those
cancelling services .
The data uncovers
that the largest drop in
penetration is seen in the
youngest households ,
with households with
under 24s present seeing
SVoD penetration drop by -2.6
percentage points compared
to a drop of just -0.5 %. in
55 – 64-year-old households .
The study also identified the
following behaviours within
the VoD market for the three
months to June 2022 :
• Between April to June
2022 , the number of VoDenabled
households that
subscribed to at least one
video streaming service in
Great Britain fell to 16.42m ,
down -488k , quarter on
quarter , representing 56 %
of households – This follows
a fall of 215k in the first
quarter of this year . The 56 %
of households compares to
58 % in Q1 ’ 22 and 57 % of
households in Q2 ’ 21 .
• Obi-Wan Kenobi from
Disney Plus was the most
enjoyed SVoD title in Q2 ’ 22 ,
followed by Stranger Things
from Netflix .
• 1.66m SVoD services were
cancelled by households
in Q2 ’ 22 , up 10 % from the
previous quarter and 1.21m
a year ago .
• The proportion of
consumers planning to
cancel SVoD services and
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stating the primary reason as ‘ wanting to save money ’ dipped slightly from an alltime high in Q1 ’ 22 ( 38 %) to 36 % in Q2 ’ 22 , but remains significantly heightened from a year ago ( 24 %) As inflation continues to rise across the UK , reaching 9.1 % at the end of May 2022 , its clear consumers are continuing to
search for ways to rein in their household spending .
The GB SVoD market decline accelerated by 488k households , with 1.66m SVoD services cancelled during the quarter . The decline is driven in almost equal part by a decrease in households taking out new subscriptions and an increase in those cancelling services . The largest drop in penetration is seen in the youngest households , with households with under 24s present seeing SVoD penetration drop by -2.6 percentage points compared to a drop of just 0.5 % in 55 – 64-year-old households . Whilst typically Kantar sees engagement levels highest amongst younger SVoD viewers , often lower incomes amongst this group means they are forced to cut spend the fastest . Additionally , this younger cohort often have a wider variety of other entertainment sources at their disposable , including several free options such as TikTok .
However , those leaving the SVoD category do not shun TV in its entirety . In fact , almost two thirds of those who dropped out the SVoD category
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in Q2 ’ 22 , continue to use BBC iPlayer at least weekly .
Saving money continues to be the number one reason for planned cancellation of SVoD services , albeit this is slightly down on the high seen in the previous quarter but has risen from 24 % in Q1 ’ 21 to 36 % in Q2 ’ 22 . Overall , only 50 % of households agreed or strongly
agreed they get good value for money from their spend on SVoD services , down from 57 % a year ago .
“ In Q2 , we observed how British consumers continued to cancel subscriptions across the board ,” reports Dominic Sunnebo , global insight director , Kantar , Worldpanel Division . “ In terms of the TV streaming market , the decline in subscriptions is being driven largely by younger ages . Although , it is worth noting that this group often have a wider variety of entertainment sources , including BBC iPlayer and free services such as TikTok , suggesting that this age is still interested in viewing TV streaming , just for a lower cost . Disney performed well in Q2 because of its broad and diverse content inventory whereas Apple TV ’ s success in the UK market came because of focusing on local content , such as popular British TV shows . With Netflix announcing its partnership with Microsoft to build an advertisementsupported tier of its streaming service , it will be interesting to see how it performs in the next quarter against its competitors .”
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Disney + had a strong quarter with share of new subscribers growing to 21.5 % in Q2 ’ 22 . For the first ever time , Disney Plus Net Promoter Score ( NPS ), a measure of subscriber advocacy , overtook Netflix and is now the highest across all major SVoD services in Great Britain . Netflix saw a NPS drop of -10 vs . the previous quarter , indicating significant challenges in the quarters ahead . The pronounced decline in Netflix subscriber advocacy is predominantly driven by a perceived decline in value for money from the service and satisfaction with the quality of the shows . This comes despite a slew of high-profile releases from Netflix in the quarter including new seasons of hit series Stranger Things and Ozark .
Disney now sees higher satisfaction rankings than Netflix across quality of shows , amount of original content , number of new release films , variety of classic films and amount of kids content . Forward looking , next quarter planned cancellation rates for Disney + fell to an all-time low of just 3.2 %. Netflix planned cancellation is increasingly driven by multiple rounds of price rises , with 27 % of consumers specifically citing the price rises as their reason to cancel , and a further 46 % saying they want to save money .
Focusing on localised content is continuing to prove successful for AppleTV +, with the top three TV series driving new subscriber acquisition all British : Slow Horses , Ted Lasso and The Essex Serpent .
AppleTV + achieved its highest ever share of new SVoD subscribers for the second consecutive quarter , holding 9.9 % share .
NOW held third spot in share of new SVoD subscribers over the quarter at 11.1 % in Q2 ’ 22 . Dune and Football were big draws for new subscribers in the quarter .
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