Kantar’s latest data on the Global Video on Demand (VOD) market reveals a surge in growth during the last quarter of the year.
The Analytics company says the growth is in part down to the appeal of ad-tier subscriptions, with 48% of Netflix subscribers taking the option.
VOD household penetration increased across all markets covered in Q423 compared to the previous quarter, with on average a 1.8 percentage point increase. However, planned cancellations in Q423 vs Q323 also increased across all major SVOD providers.
Kantar’s data shows that despite AppleTV+ being the clear winner in the share of new subscribers in Q4’23. AppleTV+ success in the last quarter of 2023, is a combination of a winning strategy of free trials powered by the success of British shows Slow Horses & Ted Lasso to attract new viewers. AppleTV+ performed particularly strong in GB, taking the number one spot for new paid subscription share, and were in the top five across share of new SVOD subscribers in all other markets, with Germany being the only exception.
This trend is particularly evident in the US, GB, and Spain, underscoring Apple TV+’s increasing presence in the VoD landscape.
Despite this, persistently high churn rates will present challenges for Apple TV+ throughout 2024, with 13% of current subscribers already planning to cancel in the next quarter. Only 6.7 out of 10 new subscribers envision a long-term commitment to the service, with current subscriber sentiment leaning towards short-term consumption.
Furthermore, Apple TV+ excels in subscriber perception towards content quality, only rivalled by Netflix in subscriber satisfaction.
Following a quiet period, Prime Video took the number one spot for the share of new paid subscriptions in Q423,
In Q4, Netflix launched the final season of The Crown, becoming again the most popular title, followed by Paramount’s Yellowstone and Virgin River (Netflix). Netflix noted subscriber growth in all markets tracked by Kantar aside from Great Britain, where it was marginally down quarter on quarter.