U.S. Video Market to Peak at $123 Billion Next Year

LONDON: The U.S. video entertainment market, which has been growing by single-digit percentage points each year, is now on track to hit an all-time high, reaching $123 billion in 2015, according to the latest industry report from Futuresource Consulting.

The overall U.S. video entertainment market—comprised of subscription pay TV, box office, packaged home video, pay-TV VOD and paid-for online video—was at $120 billion last year, a 2 percent gain on 2012. The U.S. market, with its extensive choice of viewing options and early adoption of new technology, is in a unique spot on the world stage. Digital video spend in the U.S. is larger than the rest of the world combined, yet packaged sell-through is still only declining in single digits, ensuring relative market stability.

"At $120 billion, this approximates to an average of $1,000 being spent on video entertainment by every U.S. household," said David Sidebottom, senior market analyst at Futuresource Consulting. "This is by far the highest in the world, and significantly higher than any European country."

"Diving into the detail, pay TV is dominating the overall video market at more than $90 billion, around 75 percent of total consumer spend," added Sidebottom, "and although cord-cutting is generally over hyped, the minority of snippers and shavers is having an impact on the bottom line."

He continued: "Looking to the digital video market—total pay-TV VOD and total paid-for online video combined—we're seeing solid growth, despite the relative maturity when compared to other countries. Last year it was up 25 percent, mainly due to electronic sell-through (EST/download-to-own) and continued SVOD growth, led by Netflix. In particular, EST has experienced a resurgence with consumer spend growing 43 percent in 2013, reaching $1.5 billion. We're going to see this phenomenon roll on through 2014, with Futuresource research suggesting another 33 percent growth spurt, which will nudge the market close to $2 billion."