EU VOD revenues at more than €11 billion in 2020

Revenues from VOD services in Europe increased 30-fold over the past decade.

According to a new report from the European Audiovisual Observatory into the SVOD, TVOD and AVOD markets in the 28 European Union countries, there has been an explosion of income representing the seismic shift of consumer habits.

It noted that the paid VOD market – made up of subscription and transactional services – saw revenues grow from €388.8 million in 2010 to €11.6 billion in 2020. This is mainly driven by growth in SVOD revenues from €12 million in 2010 to €9.7 billion in 2020.

The growth in SVOD revenues is reflected in an increasing number of services and subsequently subscribers in the EU. Services like Netflix and Disney+ which have launched in the EU over the past 10 years have seen subscribers increase from 300,000 to over 140 million in 2020.

Unsurprisingly, non-European players dominate the market, with US studios and entertainments disrupting the market equilibrium that was once controlled by local pay TV operators. Netflix is the top SVOD service in all but two EU countries, with Amazon being the narrow favourite in Austria and Germany – likely due to its increasing DACH sports presence.

The only prominent local players are Nordic Entertainment Group’s Viaplay, while Voyo performs well in the Baltic region.

The report goes on to note that while AVOD is in its infancy in Europe, this sector is set to rapidly increase in the coming years as more players enter the EU market. ViacomCBS, for example, will continue to focus on growing Pluto TV with expansion to additional European countries.