In reaction to the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic, the month of March saw a near 30% year-on-year increase in average transactions per household that subscribes to video-on-demand (VOD) according to research from Comscore.
The leading TV and broadcast measurement firm looked at all set-top box-based VOD— including free on-demand (FOD) , subscription video-on-demand (SVOD), transactional on-demand (TVOD) and electronic sell-through (EST) — and found that many studios have already begun to shift what would have been in-theatre movie runs to traditional VOD and other OTT streaming platforms. The research revealed that the average subscribing household accessed, purchased or rented 16 titles of VOD content over the course of the month. That was nearly four more transactions per VOD subscribing household than in March 2019.
Of the VOD subcategories, SVOD had the highest growth, with a 53% increase in average transactions per subscribing household from March 2019 compared with March 2020. FOD was next with a 21% increase for the same time period.
Looking on a week-by-week basis, Comscore saw a steady upward climb for VOD in general with the week of March 29, 2020 having the highest growth for 2020 thus far at 57% compared with the same week in 2019. Of the subcategories, SVOD was the standout. SVOD saw an 116% the week of March 29 from the same week in 2019, while FOD and TOD saw 38% and nearly 41% increases, respectively.
Focussing in on key genres within set-top VOD, Comscore found the largest increase for transactions in March 2020 compared with a year ago with Fitness, up 147%; Life and Home, 64%; Premium such as HBO, Showtime and Starz content (54%). Music though was down 10% for the same time period comparison.