SVOD growing dramatically in Europe, Netflix has over 50% share

Subscription video-on-demand grew by 56% in Europe between 2014-15 and is expected to reach 50 million homes by 2020, according to research by the European Broadcasting Union’s Media Intelligence Service.

According to the EBU’s Market Insights: SVOD in Europe report, the biggest uptake for SVOD services is in the UK, the Netherlands, Ireland and across the Nordic region. The EBU estimates that almost 11% of European households now have an SVOD subscription.

According to the EBU, Netflix has a 52% share of the EU SVOD market, with Amazon beginning to mount a significant challenge. Other groups are entering the market at national level – notably Vivendi with Canalplay, Sky with Now TV and ProSiebenSat.1 with Maxdome.

While SVOD is growing strongly, its impact on video consumption is still relatively modest. In the UK, SVOD viewing still represents only 4% of total daily viewing – or 11 minutes on average a day. In the Czech Republic, SVOD viewing only accounts for 1% of total viewing.

Free catch-up services are the most favoured form of on-demand viewing, with 97% of EBU member broadcasters now offering a free catch-up service. However, some EBU members are now offering SVOD despite regulatory and other constraints. NPO in the Netherlands has teamed up with commercial broadcasters RTL and SBS to launch a service, while RTE in Ireland has launched an international SVOD service.