Amagi: consumers turning from SVOD to AVOD and FAST

Consumers are increasingly considering unsubscribing from SVOD platforms and turn to AVOD, according to a survey by cloud-based TV technology and FAST enabler Amagi.

The report found that 67% of US consumers would switch from SVOD to FAST in order to save on their TV expenses.

When US consumers were asked what they would cut down if they needed to reduce their expenses, 47.3% said they would look to decrease their travel expenses, 33.22% would give up their TV subscriptions, and nearly 6% would reconsider their car/transport costs, with everything else accounting for the difference.

Some 20% of US consumers said they would keep their paid TV subscriptions, while the remining 13% would look to another solution.

Globally, AVOD ad revenues are expected to hit US$56 billion by 2024, according to Amagi.

Amagi said that there had been 105% growth in FAST channel deliveries over the last year, while FAST had also record an 84% rise in total hours of viewing and 130% growth in ad impressions.

The report also found that 80.6% of US homes had a connected TV while 2.7% plan to get one soon.

FAST penetration still lags behind subscription, according to the report, which found that 71.7% of homes subscribed to Netflix and 53.8% to cable or other pay TV, while 44.7% took an ad-supported subscription offering such as Hulu and only 42% accessed pure FAST.

Only 36% of US cable subscribers are currently exposed to FAST, aginast 50% of Netflix subs, meaning that FAST players could do well to target cable, according to the report.

While hours viewed grew by 84% in North America and ad impressions grew by 124%, in APAC the corresponding figures were 320% and 891%, while in EMEA hours viewed grew by 111% and ad impressions grew by 510%.

In Latin America, however, hours viewed declined by 13% even though ad impressions increased by 137%, according to the survey.

The report found that news was the most-watched FAST genre in the US by a large margin and the most watched by a much smaller margin in APAC. Documentary programming was most-watched in EMEA, while movies and food programming were most popular in Latin America.