2/3 of UK homes subscribe to paid video streaming services

 "One element of the Establishment Survey results that is always of interest is the number of UK households with access to a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service. This update for Q2 2021 shows that access has continued to increase since our last release. The number of UK households with a subscription to any SVOD service is now 18.8 million homes (66%), up from 17.4 million in Q3 2020.

All of the main services have seen growth, with market-leader Netflix increasing to 16.8m households in Q2 2021, up more than 1.5m since Q3 2020. Amazon Prime Video saw a larger growth in households than Netflix, increasing over 2.3m homes to 12.5m. The largest percentage-change in the market was from Disney+, which is growing from a smaller subscriber base than Amazon and Netflix, having launched in March 2020. In Q2 2021, Disney+ was available in 4.8m households, up 24% since last time. NowTV also increased, to 2.3m homes.

With the overall growth of 1.5 million homes lower than the aggregate growth for individual services, it’s also clear that more homes have multiple SVOD subscriptions. The proportion of homes with an SVOD service that subscribe to two or more services has risen to 65.3%, up from 58.3% in Q3 2020."

Source:  BARB's 2021 Establishment Survey, 26th August 2021

Apple Arcade 'has 5m subscribers, with a churn rate of 20%'

 "Based on third party data services (e.g. SensorTower, which tracks downloads), Apple Arcade does not seem to be very popular. Most estimates suggest 5MM or fewer subscribers, which means the service is used by less than 0.5% of Apple’s 1.1B active iOS users.

[...]

Most telling, however, is Arcade’s churn. Roughly 20% of subscribers leave the service each month (implying an average tenure of only five months). This is three-and-a-half times the worst performing SVOD. In fact, Apple Arcade experiences more than twice the churn of HBO in the month after the finale of Game of Thrones… but every month! Note that Netflix’s churn is best in class by some margin."

Source:  Data from SensorTower and Antenna, cited by Matthew Ball in a blog post, 24th August 2021

Netflix has 204m paying subscribers

"Netflix powered past the 200 million subscriber mark in 2020 to cap its biggest-ever year of growth, driven by viewership gains during COVID-19.

In the fourth quarter of 2020, Netflix added 8.51 million paid streaming subscribers, about 2.5 million more than expected, to stand at 203.7 million worldwide at the end of the year."

Source:  Variety, 19th January, 2021

OnlyFans has 85 million subscribers & 1 million creators

 "The site, which has boomed in popularity in the past year, is technically open to anyone – from personal trainers to artists and cooks – but it’s best known for one thing: nudes. Creators charge subscription fees for exclusive content, put up pay-per-view posts, and generate income from tips and livestreams.

A spokeswoman for OnlyFans told Guardian Australia there are more than 1 million creators worldwide, 85 million registered users, and it paid out more than US$2bn ($2.7bn) globally this year."

[...]

"Use of OnlyFans exploded during the pandemic, going from 7.5 million users last November to 85 million now."

Source:  The Guardian, 22nd December 2020

Peacock has more than 10m subscribers

"Peacock, the latest major entrant to the streaming video universe, has added more than 10 million signups since its launch. Comcast, the owner of NBC News and Peacock's parent NBCUniversal, revealed Thursday as part of its second-quarter earnings.

“People are watching more frequently and for much longer than we projected,” NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell said on a call with analysts.

The news underscores the high interest in at-home entertainment at a time when consumers are staying home and movie theaters in most regions are closed."

Source:  NBC News, 30th July 2020

'Hamilton' attracted 750,000 new subscribers to Disney+

"A filmed version of the Hamilton Broadway theatre production premiered to much fanfare on the Disney+ streaming platform on July 3rd.

Consequently, the Disney+ app was downloaded 752,451 times globally between July 3rd and July 5th, including 458,796 times in the US alone, according to a report in Variety, citing analytics firm Apptopia.

It means US downloads were 74 per cent higher than the average of the four weekends in June 2020 over comparable time periods (Friday through Sunday)."

Source:  Advanced Television, 7th July 2020

Stranger Things season 3 broke records on Netflix

.@Stranger_Things 3 is breaking Netflix records!

40.7 million household accounts have been watching the show since its July 4 global launch — more than any other film or series in its first four days. And 18.2 million have already finished the entire season.

— Netflix US (@netflix) July 8, 2019

There are nearly 350m paid video subscriptions in China

"The number of paid subscriptions on China’s online video platforms reached 347 million in 2018 as the market continued to expand rapidly, according to a report released at the Internet Film and Television Summit, part of the Shanghai International Film and TV Festival.
Lu Di, director of the Center for Audio-visual Communication Research at Peking University, said the number of online video users totalled 612 million, accounting for 73.9 per cent of the total Internet population in China.
Since 2015, the online video market has expanded rapidly, reaching 187.13 billion yuan (€23.8bn) in 2018, tripling in size in three years."
Source:  Advanced Television, 12th June 2019

Apple Music has more paid subscribers than Spotify in the US

"Apple Music has reportedly surpassed Spotify in terms of paid subscribers in the US, holding around 2m more paying users. According to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, Apple Music had 28m paid subscribers at the end of February compared to Spotify’s 26m.
Spotify is said to be adding subscribers at a monthly growth rate of between 1.5 and two per cent in the US, while Apple Music is growing at between 2.6 and three per cent.
Though Apple Music has captured the lead in paid subscribers, Spotify still more overall users than Apple in the US, due to offering a free, ad-supported tier in addition to its premium tier.
It’s also reported that Apple Music is also outpacing Spotify’s paid subscriber growth globally – with Apple growing at a rate of between 2.4 and 2.8 per cent versus Spotify’s between two and 2.3 per cent."

Source:  Mobile Marketing, 8th April 2019

BritBox has more than 500,000 subscribers

"BritBox, the US SVoD service from BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC, and ITV, the UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster, has surpassed 500,000 subscribers, doubling year-on-year, as it ends its 22nd month in the US and 11th month in Canada.
The service, home to a library collection of British streaming content, was considered the fastest growing subscription on-demand streaming service in the US from Q4 2017 through to Q3 2018"
Source:  Advanced Television, 18th January 2019

74% of Americans with TV service subscriptions share the passwords

"When it comes to subscription services, a new report has found just how much Americans love to share their streaming, shopping, Uber and mobile subscription accounts with family, friends and even exes.
The latest Country Financial Security Index, which surveyed around 1,000 US adults, revealed that over half (54 percent) are using some type of streaming, ride-hailing, home sharing or maintenance service. In addition, more than half (59 percent) take advantage of these services at least once a week, while one quarter (25 percent) use them every single day.
And when it comes to account sharing, television leads the pack, with 74 percent of TV service subscribers sharing their Netflix, Hulu and Amazon accounts with others. Four in ten (42 percent) are sharing mobile plans and 41 percent are sharing shopping accounts like Amazon Prime and Costco.
As for who is gaining access to these accounts, family (73 percent), significant others (34 percent), friends (10 percent) and ex-significant others (2 percent) make up the sharing pool. Women are more likely than men to share their accounts with family (79 percent vs. 66 percent), and men are more likely to share with an ex-significant other (3 percent vs. 0 percent)."

Source:  PYMNTS, 8th October 2018

Harry's has 6m customers - including 1m women

"Harry’s Inc., the premium men’s personal care products is launching its first brand out of its accelerator Harry’s Labs: Flamingo, with a focus on women’s shaving needs.
On Tuesday, Flamingo, which follows a DTC model, debuts with the intent of speaking to the 1 million female customers of Harry’s (the company currently has 6 million customers total). With an initial product lineup that includes razors, wax kits, shaving gel and body lotion that are all priced under $20, Flamingo joins Billie, Angel Shave Club, All Girl’s Shave Club and other female-oriented brands in the DTC shaving space. Harry’s isn’t just hoping to corner the female shaving market but also to add to its existing product portfolio."

Source:  Glossy, 16th October 2018

The FT has 930,000 paying subscribers

"The Financial Times believes it will complete its “march to a million” journey to 1 million paid subscribers next year after a positive response to a change in its access model.
The FT revealed it now has 930,000 paid subscribers, with 740,000 of those (79.6%) being digital subscribers and the remaining 190,000 having a print-only deal. Digital subscription is up 11% year-on-year and overall subscription by 7%.
The realisation of the longstanding 1 million target would be a significant vindication of a paywall strategy that began with its first digital subscriptions in 2002 and continued in 2007 with the introduction of the FT’s first metered-paywall. Its chief executive, John Ridding, recently recalled how that decision met with a “pretty hostile” response from digital futurists, who warned the paper that “the internet wants to be free”.
In reality, that 16-year quest behind the paywall has been conducted without a definitive map. The FT has tweaked and re-tweaked its navigational dials as evolving technology has given it new insights into reader behaviour and the paths it must travel to find new audiences."
Source:  The Drum, 30th August 2018

Hulu has more than 17m subscribers

"Hulu closed its fiscal year 2017 with more than 17 million total subscribers across its SVoD and live TV plans in the US – over 5 million more subscribers and a more than 40 per cent lift from the company’s last publicly reported total in 2016. The company also announced that its total audience grew to 54 million total unique viewers.
Hulu expanded its on-demand library in 2017 to over 75,000 episodes of television across 1700 titles – more than twice the number of episodes available on any of the other leading streaming services – adding all existing episodes of more than 600 popular and award-winning series, including This is Us, Designated Survivor, Atlanta, Futurama, 30 Rock, Black-ish, Lost, How I Met Your Mother, Bob’s Burgers, Will & Grace, Power, Golden Girls, Prison Break, Full House and Family Matters."

Source - Advanced Television, 10th January 2018

The FT has more than 900,000 paying subscribers

"The Financial Times has surpassed 900,000 paid-for readers for the first time.  Celebrating this success in a note to staff, FT CEO John Ridding said:
“Last week, we burst through the 900,000 paid-for reader level.
“That is a major milestone and a fantastic achievement, and I wanted to say a big thank you for getting us to this historic record. Never before in our 130 year history have so many people paid to read the FT.
“It was a company-wide and coordinated push – from our excellent editorial coverage, with a string of strong exclusives and beautifully written features, to smart marketing, customer service and product and tech. It was also the result of many individual efforts, such as sending gift articles to friends and contacts and spreading the message about the FT."

Source:  Financial Times, 20th November 2017

53% of US broadband households subscribe to both pay TV & paid OTT services

Source:  Research by Parks Associates, 26th October 2017

Spotify has 60m paying subscribers

"Spotify’s singular focus on music sees it adding subscribers faster than the iPhone company with a streaming app on the side. Spotify has added 20 million paid subscribers in less than a year, while it’s taken Apple Music more than a year and a half to make that progress. Spotify now has 60 million subscribers, compared to Apple Music’s 27 million (as of June).
Spotify’s ability to accelerate its growth rate despite competition from arguably the world’s most powerful company is a testament to the product and community it’s built."
Source:  TechCrunch, 31st July 2017
Earlier - 50m in March 2017
Earlier - 37m (estimated) in July 2016

Netflix has 104m members; over 50% are outside the US

"Our quarterly guidance is our internal forecast at the time we report and we strive for accuracy. In Q2, we underestimated the popularity of our strong slate of content which led to higher-than-expected acquisition across all major territories. As a result, global net adds totaled a Q2-record 5.2 million (vs. forecast of 3.2m) [to a total of 103.95m members] and increased 5% sequentially, bucking historical seasonal patterns. For the first six months of 2017, net adds are up 21% year-on-year to 10.2m. Our Q3 guidance assumes much of this momentum will continue but we are cognizant of the lessons of prior quarters when we over-forecasted and there was lumpiness in net adds, likely due to demand being pulled forward (into Q2 in this case).
Domestic net additions of 1.1m represented the highest level of Q2 net adds since the second quarter of 2011. For Q3’17, we project that we will add 0.75m US members, compared with 0.37m in Q3’16, which was impacted by un-grandfathering.
Our international segment now accounts for 50.1% of our total membership base. International revenue rose 57% year over year, excluding a -$23 million impact from foreign exchange, while international ASP grew 10% year over year on a F/X neutral basis. International contribution profit of -$13 million vs. -$69 million was better than our -$28 million forecast due primarily to higher-than-forecasted paid members."

Source:  Netflix' Q2 2017 Shareholder letter, 17th July 2017

Note - the figure of 104m is total members - paid members is 99.04m

The Guardian has more than 200,000 paying members

"I’m delighted to let you know that today we have reached an important milestone in our efforts to rebalance the Guardian’s business model to offset the dramatic decline in advertising: the Guardian now has the financial support of more than 200,000 members. In addition, we have 185,000 subscribers and people are buying the paper on newsstands more regularly than we expected. After responding to lots of feedback from readers suggesting they would be happy to give money to support the Guardian’s journalism, we have also now received more than 160,000 one-off contributions from around the world.
We greatly appreciate the role you all play in the Guardian. Thank you. Whether by joining as a member, taking out a print or digital subscription, buying the paper or giving a one-off contribution, you are providing crucial financial support for our independent journalism, and showing how much you value the Guardian’s fair and factual reporting, informed by our progressive and liberal values. This feels more important now than ever."

Source:  Letter from editor Kath Viner, 13th March 2017

Note - Membership was introduced in September 2014

Apple Music has more than 20m paying subscribers

Apple Music has "well past 20 million subscribers," says @cue.

— Vindu Goel (@vindugoel) February 14, 2017

@Cue is Eddie Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, reporting to CEO Tim Cook.