Streaming Subscriber Growth Stalls In Q3, AVOD, FAST Streamers Gain Momentum

• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

Looking at the connected TV (CTV)/over-the top (OTT) market, there are now 109 million households with at least one streaming service -- 85% of all U.S. TV homes, according to a survey from Kantar.

While this is two percentage points higher year-over-year, it has slipped one percentage point in share versus the second quarter of 2021.

This can be largely attributed to the decline in advertising-free, subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services. SVOD -- still the dominant form of streaming platform -- is down 2% to 104.8 million from the end of the second quarter.

Eighty-five percent of SVOD declines came from homes with just one subscription service.

At the same time, ad-supported services -- free apps and those with small subscription fees -- have climbed.

Ad-supported video-on-demand apps (AVOD) -- which have a monthly fee -- are up 4% to 27.3 million U.S. homes.

FAST platforms -- free (no subscription fee) ad-supported services -- are 27% higher to 17.2 million.

For the 2021-2022 TV season, Nielsen says there are 122.4 million total TV households.

In terms of U.S. household penetration, 81.6% have at least one SVOD service,with 21.3% for AVOD and 13.4% for FAST. This trend has continued for streaming services since the start of the year, with SVOD slipping and AVOD and FAST gaining.

In the third quarter, Amazon Prime Video added the most new subscribers -- taking a 19% share. Disney+ was next, at 16%, followed by HBO Max, at 12%; then Apple TV+, 7%; ESPN+, 7%; Netflix, 6%; Discovery+, 6%; Hulu, 6%; Paramount+, 3%; and Peacock, 2%.

Households with multiple streaming services keep growing. The average TV streaming home now has 4.2 subscriptions -- up from 3.8 in the second quarter of 2021.

TV homes with the most subscription services can mean more competition for screen time for each individual streaming platform -- especially new or smaller platforms, according to Kantar.

On average, those homes that have, for example, Paramount+ -- among other services -- have an average of 5.8 total streaming subscriptions. Discovery+ is at 5.6, with Peacock at 5.3; Apple TV+ at 5.3; and HBO Max at 5.2.

Kantar also says households with a traditional live pay TV service -- but no streaming -- now have a 10% share, up from a 9% number in the second quarter of this year.

Those homes with both a traditional pay TV service and streaming are now at a 51% number -- up from 50% in the previous quarter.