Kantar’s Entertainment on Demand analysis of the global video streaming market found an average 1.8 percentage point increase in household penetration across all tracked markets in Q4 2023.
The growth was, in part, down to “the appeal of ad-tier subscriptions”, with 48% of new Netflix subscribers opting for the ad-funded option and the streaming platform registering subscriber growth in all of its tracked markets, aside from the UK, where they were “marginally down” quarter on quarter.
Netflix’s The Crown was the most popular title during the quarter, followed by Yellowstone on Paramount+ and fellow Netflix show Virgin River.
The most recent entrant to the ad-funded VOD ecosystem, Amazon Prime Video, took top spot for share of new paid VOD subscriptions in Q4.
Apple TV+ was the fastest-growing subscription VOD (SVOD) brand, as a result of “a winning strategy” of free trials and hit shows including Slow Horses and Ted Lasso.
However, the study also noted that while VOD services were diversifying like broadcast giants did with ad-supported pay-TV, free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) “risks being overlooked” by major streamers shifting to advertiser-funded VOD.
It found that FAST was in more than one in three households, predominately led by services such as Samsung TV Plus, Pluto TV and Freevee. The study highlighted that FAST competed with SVOD for viewership, usage and screen time, as well as impacting retention metrics and traditional TV models.
Kantar predicted that as FAST services invested more in content, its growth would continue in 2024.
At the same time, planned cancellations went up quarter on quarter across all major SVOD platforms.
