U.S. Dominates Global SVOD Revenues

While SVOD services around the world continue to add subscribers at a prodigious rate, revenue continues to be highly concentrated in a few markets, according to Strategy Analytics. In their most recent forecast, they have noticed that consumer spend on SVOD services in 2019 was $53.34B (€47.55B) globally.

The U.S. accounted for 43%, followed by China (17%), Germany (4%), and the United Kingdom (4%). Overall, the top ten countries account for 81% of consumer spend on SVOD services. By 2025, global consumer spend on SVOD services will grow to $102.86B (€91.70B). Of this, the U.S. will account for 44%, followed by China (15%), and Germany (5%).

While there are a handful of countries that are on par with the U.S., in general, U.S. TV HHs are more likely to subscribe to SVOD services than those in other countries. In 2019, 74% of U.S. TV users subscribed to one or more SVOD service. In comparison, the global average was 32%.

On average, U.S. users are more likely to subscribe to multiple services than their counterparts in other regions. On average, they have subscribed to 2.45 SVOD services in 2019, and by 2025 this will grow to 3.21. In comparison, global users subscribed to 1.54 services in 2019, and by 2025 this will grow to 1.82.

SVOD services tend to be more expensive in the U.S than in other countries, though that can vary by country and service. For example, Netflix is significantly more expensive in Denmark and Switzerland than the United States. Globally, the average spend per SVOD service in 2019 was $6.24 (€5.56), while in the U.S. the average was 63% higher at $10.22 (€9.11). Given that each SVOD household in the U.S. subscribes to multiple services they spent an average of $22.52 (€20.08) per month, compared to $9.26 (€8.25) globally.

“Whether it is pay TV, video rental and sell-thru, or subscription VOD, U.S. consumers have historically shown a willingness to spend on these products and services at a far greater rate than those in the vast majority of other countries,“ said Michael Goodman, Director, TV & Media Strategies at Strategy Analytics. “There are many local and regional services around the world, and they must be realistic about the ultimate potential of revenues and not base their models on U.S. levels of demand.“