Amazon tops new UK SVoD sign-ups
October 15, 2020
Kantar, the data, insights and consulting company, has announced Q3 2020 results from its Entertainment On Demand service in the UK, the newest offering from Kantar to help entertainment industry and investors understand the full entertainment subscription service consumer journey. The service reveals the following consumer behaviours in the three months to September 2020:
- Amazon Prime Video secured more than half of all new SVoD subscriptions in the quarter driven by an increase in Prime Membership
- 12 per cent of new subscriptions were switched, meaning they were taken by households who cancelled one SVoD service to make way for another, +2 per cent point vs. Q1 2020
- Subscription slowdown continues – as just 3 per cent of UK households take on a new subscription
- Netflix provide 4 of top 5 ‘most enjoyed’ shows
- Apple TV+ share fairly flat at 2.7 per cent of new additions in Q3
| % Share of new GB SVoD Subscribers | |||
| 3 m/e March 2020 | 3 m/e June 2020 | 3 m/e Sept 2020 | |
| Amazon Prime Video | 12.9% | 45.1% | 51.0% |
| Disney+ | 52.1% | 21.8% | 15.4% |
| Netflix | 19.4% | 11.7% | 12.3% |
| Now TV | 6.2% | 5% | 3.9% |
Dominic Sunnebo, Senior Vice President at Kantar, Worldpanel Division, commented: “Q3 saw a further drop in the number of GB households taking out a new SVoD subscription in the quarter to just 3 per cent or a little over one million, indicating consumers are tightening their belts as the economy comes under sustained pressure.”
Amazon Prime Video continues to benefit from being integrated with Prime Membership, with Amazon Prime subscribers rising to 49.6 per cent of households in Q3 2020, up from 45 per cent in Q1. Amazon is driving the highest level of direct switching in the industry, with 14 per cent of Prime Video subscribers transferring from another provider. Now TV has become a key source of new customer acquisition. The heavily promoted second season of The Boys came out as the #2 title most enjoyed across all SVoD subscribers in Q3 2020, helping boost Amazon further. An increase in satisfaction with the amount of original content and variety of TV series has helped Prime Video edge past Disney+ to become the #2 most recommended service, after Netflix.
The Fall from Netflix was the most enjoyed title across all SVoD services, with Lucifer, The Umbrella Academy and Ozark rounding out the most enjoyed SVoD titles in Q3, highlighting Netflix’s domination of top content. Bundle deals continue to be a driving force in the UK, making up 16.8 per cent of all new SVoD subscription in the third quarter, with Netflix + Sky TV the most popular overall package, followed by O2 + Disney+ and BT TV + Now TV.
Apple TV+’s share of new SVoD subscribers stayed fairly flat at 2.7 per cent, though overall subscriber numbers continue to edge up. Apple continues to play to its strengths and consumers rate the TV interface highly, but overall advocacy levels are brought down by more negative views on volume of new release films and number of classic movies. Planned cancellation is higher than the industry average and among those who plan to cancel, 52 per cent state they are not prepared to pay once their free trial is over – a key challenge Apple is likely seeking to overcome by announcing a three month extension to the 12 month trial of Apple TV+ with a hardware purchase.
Disney+ has seen a distinct reduction in overall usage engagement as children returned to school, with the number of users classed as low intensity usage rising from 40 per cent in Q1 2020 to 61 per cent in Q3 2020. Disney+’s quarter-on-quarter churn rate in Great Britain is currently 7.8 per cent, more than double Netflix at 3 per cent. The Mandalorian continues to be a bright spot for Disney+, with 22.5 per cent of new subscribers citing it as the key reason they subscribed. Mulan, which requires both a Disney+ subscription and a one-off payment of £19.99 to watch, was cited by 2.4 per cent of subscribers, slightly lower than the equivalent for the US.
Based on a longitudinal panel of 15,000 consumers and boosted by 2,500 new subscriber interviews each quarter, the Entertainment on Demand service is designed to help the broadcast industry and investors understand the full consumer journey for digital video subscription services.