U.S. Streaming Subscriptions Near 340 Million

According to Ampere Analysis, there are more OTT subscriptions in the U.S. than there are people, with almost 340 million streaming contracts as of the first quarter of this year.

The Covid-19 pandemic and a proliferation of new platforms have seen increased rates of subscription stacking, Ampere reports. As of the first quarter, 57 percent of U.S. internet users said that on-demand was their preferred method for watching TV and film content, and more than 25 percent are using five or more services.

“In 2020, pay-TV penetration dropped below 60 percent for the first time, down from more than 80 percent at the beginning of 2015, with consumers increasingly shifting to SVOD services,” said Toby Holleran, research manager at Ampere Analysis. “Alongside growth from the pandemic, 2020 also saw the U.S. launch of both Peacock and HBO Max, which grew the market even further. As consumers shift away from pay TV and more streaming services enter the market, service stacking continues to grow as consumers curate their own content portfolios, leading the overall number of subscriptions to overtake the number of people in Q1 2021. In our latest U.S. consumer wave, the average SVOD household took more than four services, and with the more recent launch of services such as Paramount+ and Discovery+, this could grow even further as 2021 progresses.”