International content owners go direct-to-consumer in Western Europe , according to the latest report from Kagan, the TMT research arm of S&P Global Market Intelligence.
The online video market in Western Europe continues to grow, with international media players continuously expanding in new territories, and Netflix and Amazon Prime Video (the two leading OTT services) facing robust competition from local and other internal media groups.
Netflix is the leading video-on-demand service in all countries but Germany and Austria where Amazon Prime Video is ranked first in terms of subscribers. With that being said, in those two markets, Netflix is closing the gap each year.
Shudder, available in multiple countries in Western Europe, is an example of an SVOD service that follows a niche approach to content by offering horror movies and TV series.
Austria’s low OTT adoption can be attributed to an underpenetrated fixed-broadband and multichannel sector. While in Germany, a preference free-to-air TV coupled with a strong broadcasting sector has kept OTT adoption lower than in the U.K. and the Nordics.
In Germany, competition among SVOD players has gained momentum, though, and the revenues from SVOD are expected to grow from $593 million in 2017 to $970 million in 2022.
In France, local multichannel operators have been operating their own subscription online video services, competing with Netflix for a share of consumer spending, with Vivendi SA’s CanalPlay the most successful example.
Spain’ developing OTT market, on the other hand, is sometimes used by international players to test the waters before expanding to other territories. Netflix leads Spain’s SVOD market, with the nearest competitor with half the count.