The number of online video subscriptions in North America is expected to rise by over 50% between 2017 and 2022. By then, Digital TV Research forecasts that over 70% of television households in the United States will subscribe to at least one online video service.
The North American online video subscription market is by far the most mature in the world, with 112 million subscriptions to online movie and television platforms, of which 105 million are in the United States. However, there is plenty of growth left in the sector. It is forecast to climb to a total of 171 million subscriptions by 2022 — an increase of 59 million on the end of 2016, or a 53% increase over five years.
“It is important to stress that these figures are gross,” notes Simon Murray of Digital TV Research, which produced the figures. “Many homes take more than one SVOD platform, especially in the US. That explains why we forecast 132% SVOD penetration of US TV households by 2022.”
Just over 60% of television households in the United States subscribed to at least one online video service at the end of 2016, which is a total of around 70 million homes. Each subscriber signed up to an average of 1.5 services.
By 2022 the forecast is that just over 70% of television households in the United States will subscribe to at least one such service, with subscribing households paying for an average of 1.88 services.
There will be almost 160 million subscriptions in the United States, with over 12 million in Canada.
The conclusion is that the growth in penetration of subscription services will inevitably slow, but those homes that subscribe will pay for more services.
Netflix and Amazon will still account for over 70% of online video subscribers in North America in 2022, down from over 78% in 2017.
Netflix will have 59 million subscribers in the United States by 2022, up by 11 million or 23% from the end of 2016. It will have 7 million subscribers in Canada, an increase of 26% on 2016.
North America OTT TV & Video Forecasts is published by Digital TV Research.