Q2 U.S. Streaming Consumer Spending Soars 27%

• by Wayne Friedman , 2 hours ago

U.S. streaming video subscription spending continues to rise, up 27% in the second quarter versus a year ago to around $11 billion, according to DEG (Digital Entertainment Group) -- now commanding almost a third of all U.S. consumer video spending.

The sharp gains for streaming video are coming at the expense of other entertainment consumer spending, says Brian Wieser, media analyst of Madison and Wall. 

“In general, we continue to observe that streaming services are growing at a healthy clip, generally passing rising costs along to consumers, who in turn limit their spending at theaters and reduce their spending on traditional pay TV services.”

Wieser estimates total consumer video entertainment spending -- pay TV, streaming, theatrical, and physical media -- grew 1.2% to $37 billion in the U.S. Estimates here come from sources including Madison and Wall, company reports, DEG (Digital Entertainment Group), and IMdb’s Box Office Mojo.

Streaming consumer video spending now comprises around 30% share of all video spend -- up from 24% a year ago.

Legacy pay TV -- including virtual pay TV services like YouTube TV, Hulu+Live TV and others -- fell in the second-quarter period 4.5% to around $24 billion. This largely came from continued cord-cutting of subscribers -- now at about 71 million households and near a penetration rate of less than 50% of total U.S. homes.

This all has consequences for national TV and video advertisers. With traditional pay TV losing consumers and subscribers shifting to lower ad loads on streaming platforms, brands need to find alternatives. 

“[It] renders alternatives -- for example, digital platforms --as relatively more appealing despite the various downsides associated with those providers of advertising inventory.”