COVID-19 Boosts SVOD Subs in Western Europe

This year will see Western Europe add about 45 million new SVOD subscribers, with COVID-19 shutdown measures providing a major boost to the sector, according to Digital TV Research.

By 2025, there will be 197 million SVOD subs in Western Europe, double the 88 million at the end of last year. Netflix will remain at the front of the pack regionally with 67.7 million subscribers by 2025, up 24 million from last year. In second place will be Disney+ at 57.7 million subs. Amazon Prime is projected to have 35.4 million customers in 2025.

“The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have had two major effects on Western European OTT: a surge in SVOD subscriptions and a loss in advertiser confidence, which will result in lower AVOD growth for 2020,” said Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research. “Netflix reported impressive first-quarter results and the newly-launched Disney+ has enjoyed great success. Crucial for the SVOD platforms will be retaining subscribers after the lockdown is lifted—and to attract new ones.”

Murray added, “The danger is that subscribers will watch so much of one platform’s library during lockdown that they will unsubscribe if they feel that there is little left for them to watch. This will affect Disney+ less as its younger audience will watch the same content multiple times. Older audiences to the other platforms always want new content, which may be difficult to achieve especially given the production suspension during lockdown.”