SVOD subscriptions for 138 countries will increase by 591 million between 2020 and 2026 to reach 1,495 million – or up by 65%. The peak year was 2020 when 201 million subscriptions were added. The total will cross the 1 billion mark in 2021.
SVOD subscriptions growth is faster than for SVOD subscribers [an SVOD subscriber pays for at least one SVOD subscription]. This means that the average SVOD subscriber will pay for 2.14 SVOD subscriptions by 2026 – up from 1.74 in 2020.
Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “There will be 700 million SVOD subscribers by 2026; up by 35% from 518 million at end-2020. The 2026 total represents 39% of TV households, increasing from 30% in 2020.”
The US will overtake China as the subscription leader in 2021. China and the US will together account for 48% of the global total by 2026; down from 59% in 2020. This indicates that other countries are growing faster. SVOD subscriptions in India will nearly triple between 2020 and 2026 to 155 million – representing 10% of the world’s total.