ITV

Tag: SVOD

  • Studio 100 Media closes deal with SPI International for digital rights to air 2D animation classics

    Studio 100 Media closes deal with SPI International for digital rights to air 2D animation classics

    Mumbai, 14 July 2022. The leading independent studio for kids and family entertainment, Studio 100 Media, has closed a multi-brand deal with global media company SPI International for digital exploitation of several 2D animation classic series from its extensive catalogue.

    The contract will give SPI non-exclusive worldwide AVOD and SVOD rights (with the exception of a few territories per program) on SPI platforms such as FilmBox+, FilmBox on Demand, Film1, ToonzBox and ToonzStream.

    The shows Maya the Bee, Heidi, Pinocchio and Alice in Wonderland will be available on-demand in various language versions, including English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

  • GUEST ARTICLE: Audience insights empower OTT businesses to gain competitive advantage

    GUEST ARTICLE: Audience insights empower OTT businesses to gain competitive advantage

    Mumbai: India is witnessing a monumental shift in the consumption of entertainment with the emergence of OTT platforms dominating traditional television and big screens. The heightened demand to access quality content conveniently, has led digital video content to rise in popularity. According to a recent report by CII and BCG, between 2019 to 2022, India noticed a growth of only two per cent in the adoption of TV services by households, but a 51 per cent rise in SVoD (subscription video on demand) services, in comparison. Additionally, given the exponential rise in internet access and the rapid developments in online video streaming platforms, India’s OTT streaming market is anticipated to become the sixth largest by 2024, as per the PwC report.

    This growth has resulted in tremendous opportunities for all OTT companies in the country, widening the business landscape for OTT players to grab adequate market share/outwit competition. To stay ahead of the curve, companies are increasingly looking for ways to deliver as per consumer’s appetite for entertainment and improve online video viewer growth.

    How can businesses identify their best content and uncover actionable audience behaviours across devices and geographies to track customer interest and engagement?

    Customer engagement is the primary driving force behind the SVoD ecosystem. SVoD providers in the space are largely emphasising on data to improve the end-user experience by providing recommendations based on customer preferences more effectively. However, companies need a more innovative way to bring their value to the market and set them apart from their competitors. By taking analytics to the next level, businesses can have a greater understanding of audience dynamics and customers’ lifetime value, build more successful personalisation, acquisition, and retention strategies from data.

    Another consideration is user experience. This is an important factor in getting viewers to subscribe to an OTT service. This, of course, is taking into account that the content is engaging, and the genre is of interest to the audience being targeted. The user friendliness of the app and its seamless flow needs to be taken into account while building an OTT service. If not, it can become a deterrent for consumers to subscribe, preventing audiences from seeing the curated content.

    Unlocking ‘Audience Insights’ to create ‘Measurable Results’

    Audience data is necessary to drive revenue and business value for OTT companies, particularly those operating with an SVoD model. By leveraging a robust intelligent video platform, businesses can collect and analyse data from multiple sources in a single, reliable, secure, and scalable platform to produce valuable insights. Bringing these data sources together enables business leaders to make data-driven decisions to optimise content, marketing, and product strategies. When video performance metrics are coupled with the audience insight data, the video works better for the business and for its revenue goals.

    With this approach, businesses can unlock new insights to achieve the much-needed edge in an increasingly saturated market. For example, in order to lower customer acquisition costs and churn rates, while maximising investment in content, companies should augment data metrics with content and subscriber insights to drive the following business strategies successfully:

    •  Focus on high lifetime value (LTV) customers – Net-new acquisition costs for OTT companies are high but audience insights can lower acquisition costs by identifying which marketing sources have the highest conversion rate and lowest cost per acquisition.
    •  Engage stalled trialists – Audience data can indicate which subscribers signed up for the service but have yet to stream a video. Such viewer insight can inform automated marketing emails to those viewers, prompting them to watch and engage.
    • Reduce churn of at-risk customers – Businesses can prevent churn by identifying which audience chorts are declining in their engagement and have a high likelihood of cancelling based on behavioural patterns in their viewer history.
    • Increase loyalty – Creating the most value for customers is critical to build loyalty. Businesses can leverage insights for targeted, personalised marketing campaigns to promote relevant  content based on viewer behaviour.
    • Optimise content investment – Content acquisition costs are a huge investment. Audience insights can help understand what content is driving the most subscribers and the most consumption. Businesses can further licence more similar content that bring additional value to its customers.
    • Promote the videos that will drive the most revenue – Using content performance intelligence can direct audiences to the content assets and maximise the revenue achieved through the acquisition of content.

    Winning in the era of transformation

    Marketers have taken advantage of lots of data points over the years: subscriptions, video views, customer payments, marketing touchpoints, video metadata, marketing channel investment. All of the metrics speak to critical business needs. However, in today’s fast-paced market, having the right data is no longer enough. Businesses need intelligence from that data. They need centralised solutions that not only house that data but translate it into measurable results. With an additional layer of machine learning on top of the data infrastructure, businesses can integrate diverse data sources together and apply advanced analytics to predict customer dynamics and fuel profitable growth.

    By aggregating the data, businesses can achieve a comprehensive, 360-degree view of the video performance tied to customer engagement. Aggregated intelligence is thus becoming a critical component for business success. This next evolution of audience and content insights are central to engage customers, monitise content, and prepare OTT businesses to make the most of the changing dynamics in the entertainment industry.

    The author is Brightcove managing director – sales, India & SAARC region Subhasish Gupta.

  • Indian SVOD audience consumes content in more than four languages: Study

    Indian SVOD audience consumes content in more than four languages: Study

    Mumbai: The Indian subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) audience consumes content in 4.6 languages on an average, found a study by media consulting firm Ormax Media.

    The presence of widely available subtitling and dubbing options available on SVOD platforms makes it much easier for audiences to watch content outside their native language. The study found that for advertising video-on-demand services that outlook on language content is more conservative, primarily because of the low presence of multi-language dubbing on AVOD services, including YouTube.

    The study titled ‘Ormax OTT Audience Report: 2022’ is based on research conducted across more than 6,000 SVOD and SVOD audiences in urban India. As per the report’s estimates for the year 2021, India’s digital video audience universe stood at 353.2 million out of which 31 per cent were SVOD audience while the remaining 69 per cent were AVOD audience.

    As per Ormax’s findings, a large share of the audience of content in the four South Indian languages comes from outside their native state. For example, 88 per cent Malayalam content viewers are from outside Kerala, while 82 per cent Tamil content viewers are from outside Tamil Nadu.

    Dubbing has also fuelled the growth of English and other foreign language content, including Korean, according to the report. It found that 65 per cent SVOD audience and 43 per cent AVOD audience in urban India watch English language content, though a sizable section among them (more than half) prefer to watch it in an Indian language via dubbing.

    Average number of languages of content consumption among SVOD audience are higher in the Southern states, with Karnataka leading with an average of 5.7 languages. UP, Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh rank the lowest on this measure, at an average of less than four languages.

    “Streaming is a fast-growing category in India, and hence, it is important for content creators and marketers to constantly upgrade their understanding of the audiences, their taste, their viewing habits, and their viewing triggers,” said Ormax Media founder and CEO Shailesh Kapoor. “This report is a comprehensive update on how the behaviour and choices of Indian OTT audience have evolved over the course of the pandemic years, where there was unprecedented exposure to streaming content”.

    “A lot of AVOD content is being made in India today with an SVOD lens,” noted Kapoor. “However, this report reveals that the formats and genres preferred by SVOD and AVOD audiences are significantly different from each other. Since streaming has come up in India only recently in a big way, a lot of content greenlighting in the category has happened on instinct so far, without any robust consumer data to aid the decision-making process. The Ormax OTT Audience Report is our endeavour to help platforms make more informed content choices.”

  • Q1 2022 streaming renewals is at an all time high: Ampere Analysis

    Q1 2022 streaming renewals is at an all time high: Ampere Analysis

    Mumbai: Ampere Analysis Q1 2022 reported rising demand for renewed seasons on Video-on-Demand (VoD) platform giving impressive numbers altogether.

    The increase in the volume of streaming renewals is being driven by relative newcomers to the VoD landscape such as Disney+ and Discovery+, as they turn their considerable production capacity to streaming. Both companies can be seen taking multiple season risks on high-profile titles, as well as renewing existing titles previously intended for their linear platforms. Despite a common misconception that streaming series are more likely to be short-lived than their linear counterparts, recent VoD commissioning shows that streamers are increasingly committed to long-running series.

    Of all VoD renewals in the UK and US announced in 2021, 51 per cent were in their fourth or later season, a 6 per cent increase in comparison to 2020, suggesting that long-running series are no less effective in driving both subscriber growth and retention than shorter, or limited series. But there are differences in strategies between streamers. Netflix first run commissions continued to increase throughout 2021 (with 8 per cent more new titles announced than in 2020), but the number of returning titles announced by the streaming giant showed a decrease, with 2 per cent fewer renewals announced in 2021 than in 2020.

    Unscripted titles are less likely to be cancelled than their scripted counterparts, representing just 7 per cent of all streaming cancellations in 2021. Unscripted titles are also more likely to last longer, representing the highest proportion of all VoD renewals in Q1 2022 (54 per cent).

    Ampere Analysis senior analyst Olivia Deane said, “It has been suggested that streamer’s high rate of cancellation is purely due to their high rate of commissioning, where a large volume of titles are ordered with the expectation that only a handful of titles will succeed. However, with an overall increase in the volume and proportion of returning VoD titles, streamers must strike a balance between committing to fresh new content and satisfying fans of existing titles in order to compete.”

    “For streaming newcomers like Disney+ and Discovery+, which have well-established fan bases for key IP, it’s easier for commissioners to make long-term commitments to titles they know viewers will love. Streamers also need to compromise between pleasing fanbases of more expensive scripted titles from genres like Sci-Fi & Fantasy, while making a range of unscripted content. The latter fleshes out their catalog with cheaper to make, easily digestible titles that can be very popular, and therefore represent a better return on investment.”

  • OTT global revenues to increase significantly in 2022: Report

    OTT global revenues to increase significantly in 2022: Report

    Mumbai: Global revenues from OTT TV episodes and movies will reach $224 billion in 2027. According to the reports, this will be up from $135 billion in 2021.

    About $21 billion will be added in 2022 alone, according to Digital TV Research.

    SVOD revenues will climb by $48 billion between 2021 and 2027 to total $136 billion. AVOD revenues will increase by $37 billion between 2021 and 2027 to reach $70 billion.

    From the 138 countries covered, the top five will command 65  percent of global OTT revenues by 2027. OTT revenues will exceed $1 billion in 25 countries by 2027; up from 17 countries in 2021.

    Digital TV Research principal analyst Simon Murray said, “The US will command 45 per cent of global revenues by 2027. We forecast that US revenues will climb by $45 billion between 2021 and 2027 to reach $106 billion.”

  • Global SVOD subscriptions to grow by 485 million: Research

    Global SVOD subscriptions to grow by 485 million: Research

    MUMBAI: Global Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) subscriptions will surge by 485 million between 2021 and 2027 to reach 1.69 billion. Six US-based platforms will have 988 million paying SVOD subscribers by 2027, up from 612 million in 2021, according to a report by Digital TV Research.

    Digital TV Research principal analyst Simon Murray said, “Our Netflix forecasts for 2027 are 29 million lower than our February update – at 253 million. Netflix needs to boost its content to counter its fresher and cheaper rivals.”

    Despite losing four million subscribers in North America, a total of 31 million subscribers Netflix will add between 2021 and 2027.

    It is estimated that Disney+ will overtake Netflix in 2025. Disney+ will add 144 million subscribers between 2021 and 2027 to take its total to 274 million Disney+ Hotstar will roll out to 13 Asian countries by 2027. These countries will supply 114 million (42 per cent) of the global Disney+ subscriber total, but only $1.58 billion (11 per cent) of Disney+’ revenues ($14.7 billion) by 2027.

    Netflix will remain the revenue winner, with $34 billion by 2027 – similar to Disney+, HBO Max and Paramount+ combined. However, the Netflix total is only $4 billion more than 2021 as subscriber growth decelerates and average revenue per user (arpu) is squeezed.

  • VidNet 2022: ‘Over half of global online video services are subscription funded’

    VidNet 2022: ‘Over half of global online video services are subscription funded’

    Mumbai: Over half of the online video services worldwide were subscription funded at the end of 2021, according to a study. The key findings of the study pointed out that while there are more subscription funded over-the-top (OTT) services worldwide, advertising is a much larger revenue stream for video-on-demand platforms. Advertising revenue will also outpace subscription revenue over the next five years nudging many global OTT players including Netflix to introduce an ad-supported plan on their platforms. These insights and more were revealed in the session ‘Trends in Global OTT’ presented by Omdia senior principal analyst – digital content and channels Tim Wescott at IndianTelevision.com’s VidNet 2022 Summit on Thursday. 

    The two-day industry event was supported by technology partners Dell Technologies and Synamedia, summit partners Applause Entertainment and Viewlift, industry support partners Gupshup, Lionsgate Play and Pallycon, community partners Screenwriters Association and Indian Film and Television Producers Council and gifting partner The Ayurveda Co.

    Omdia is a research firm that focuses on technology, media and telecommunications sector and connects the dots in the global media ecosystem. 

    Wescott shared that there were 5671 online video services available at the end of 2021. This includes video sharing services like YouTube, subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and transactional video services like Apple iTunes. “We have seen a plateau in terms of the number of online video services that peaked in 2019. New services are being launched all the time that are replacing old online video brands. Some services have been shuttered because they haven’t managed to turn a profit.”

    There were slightly more OTT services in 2021 as compared to 2020. There are 2222 subscription funded online video services followed by just over 2000 AVOD platforms and 1362 transactional video-on-demand services. There were just over 1000 dedicated sports streaming services, 600 virtual pay TV operators and 463 free video-on-demand services. Free VOD services are either promotional channels or are public broadcaster funded services.

    There are an estimated 127 online video services in Central and Southern Asia out of which 51 are AVOD services and 45 are SVOD services. “Despite the publicity of SVOD, advertising is the larger revenue stream and has been since 2010,” said Wescott. “It is going to outgrow subscription as a source of revenue for online video services over the next five years.”

    The online video world is dominated by YouTube and Facebook. A lot of OTT streaming services have started offering advertising including HBO Max, Peacock, Hulu, Disney+ (later this year) and Amazon Prime Video. “We heard recently that Netflix is considering adding an advertising tier,” noted Wescott. “It comes as no surprise as advertising supported plans are already being rolled out by other OTT players. We forecast that online video advertising is going to outstrip linear advertising in 2022. It is a very strong source of financing that will continue to grow.”

    The number of global online video subscriptions have seen dramatic growth since 2015 with the launch of more streaming platforms. Amazon Prime Video and Netflix launched globally in 2012 followed by Disney+ and Apple TV+ in 2019, HBOMax and Peacock in 2020 and Paramount+ in 2021. “We will continue to see subscription growth, especially with the advent of SVOD platforms of US studios. Earlier, these studios used to sell content directly to OTT players but now they view them as competitors.” 

    Omdia also conducted a consumer study in eight countries including India to understand consumer preferences when it comes to OTT services. They found that in most countries the arrival of SVOD services had decimated pay TV subscriptions. For example, SVOD services in the US have undercut existing pay TV in terms of pricing and have led to dramatic decline in pay TV subscriptions. The opportunity to watch on demand and binge watch content is something consumers have enthusiastically embraced, according to Wescott. The picture is similar in other countries where pay TV hasn’t declined as much as in the US but there are more SVOD subscriptions in most cases.

    India is slightly different from other markets because the pricing differential between SVOD and pay TV is not the same. In India, SVOD is a premium service whereas pay TV tends to be cheaper. There are also a lot more pay TV households than SVOD in India, though that is also because a lot of people get their television services via fraudulent operators.

    “While there is an increasing array of SVOD services being launched every year, clearly not every household is going to subscribe to all these services,” observed Wescott. “Our research shows that people use free ad funded services the most. So, YouTube is the number one choice in many countries including India. Before 2021, YouTube was the biggest online video service followed by Facebook Watch and then the free ad-supported tier of Disney+ Hotstar. Amazon Prime Video and Netflix are in the middle of the rankings among top ten OTT services. “Netflix has famously said that they’re competing with sleep for the consumer’s time but in reality, all online video services, whether they are AVOD or SVOD are competing for the consumer’s attention,” said Wescott.

    When Omdia asked consumers what they rated highly in a SVOD service, most respondents overwhelmingly said that original exclusive content i.e., content that is not available anywhere else was the most important aspect of any OTT. Consumers also wanted to watch the most talked about TV series that they had yet to catch up on. The depth of the content catalogue is rated as the next most important aspect for consumers of online video services. Advertising or lack of ad-supported content was also a big deal for some consumers but not as much as having original content.

    Omdia’s Wescott also shared some exclusive data at VidNet Summit 2022. The data showed that the number of original productions that were transmitted in 2021 by streaming services including Amazon Prime Video and Netflix were less than the previous year. There were also fewer hours of original content last year. Netflix produced the most original content coming up at 1767 hours. “The main reason for the decline in original productions is due to the production hiatus that began in 2020 due to the pandemic. We see that disruption working into the delivery pipeline for players such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. However, if you compare what Netflix is putting versus a typical US linear TV service then it is still a considerable amount of original content.”

    More global OTT platforms are commissioning originals locally. Netflix commissioned content in 47 countries in 2021 that were outside the US. Netflix’s most successful hits are being produced outside the US in languages other than English. In the last five years, Spain (Spanish shows) has been the biggest source of drama content for Netflix followed by India. “When Netflix came to India it wasn’t able to get as much local content as it would have liked and thus was obliged to originate content,” said Wescott. “Also, audiences in India prefer local content. While they will watch content from other countries, what they’re looking for is local content.”

    Similarly, India ranked as an important market for Amazon Prime Video, as most of its original drama productions outside the US, have been made in India in the last few years. Many direct-to-consumer services are offering a broader range of content and not just original content, even though they are increasing their original productions. US studios are expecting their new films to be a very important part of their SVOD service. Studios like Disney, Paramount, Universal and Warner Bros are planning to release their films exclusively on their SVOD services after the theatrical release. They also have deep libraries of film and TV content. Recently, Amazon completed the acquisition of legacy movie studio MGM and has access to 50 per cent of all James Bond titles.

  • ‘Lock Upp’ is ALTBalaji’s ‘KBC moment’ as it forays into AVOD: Divya Dixit

    ‘Lock Upp’ is ALTBalaji’s ‘KBC moment’ as it forays into AVOD: Divya Dixit

    Mumbai: With its maiden advertising-based video on demand (AVOD) project “Lock Upp” delivering a stellar performance, Balaji Telefilms’ video streaming service ALTBalaji is currently experiencing its “KBC moment,” as the platform’s SVP of marketing and revenue Divya Dixit tells IndianTelevision.com. Clocking 100 million views within 19 days, and crossing 200 million unique views in 32, it has become one of the most-watched OTT reality shows since launching on ALTBalaji and MX Player.

    “Lock Upp” marks a turning point in ALTBalaji’s journey, as the popular subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service opens up to the world of AVOD. The platform boasts 35 million subscribers, over 10 million MAUs, an engagement metric of 83 minutes per day, and a library of over 91 original shows. Up to 80 per cent of ALTBalaji’s audience is under 35 years of age.

    ALSO READ | Understanding ALTBalaji’s ‘under 35 viewers’ with Divya Dixit

    Having achieved these milestones, AVOD was a natural progression aimed at expanding the audience base, including via cross-sell and up-sell for ALTBalaji. Furthermore, “it adds a layer of advertising revenue over a successful SVOD business,” says Dixit.

    To this end, “Lock Upp” was designed to have an international appeal. Fronted by a controversial host Kangana Ranaut, and featuring equally controversial contestants, the show’s sets, costumes, tasks, and dares, were all planned to keep these objectives and audiences in mind. It will be exported globally from the next season.

    “After achieving tremendous success locally, the objective of creating a format that caters to the international audience is to expand our audience base as well as establish a homegrown exported-to-world IP, and have the freedom to implement new ideas,” states Dixit, adding that, “The strategy worked as the responses that we received have all been quite positive and exceeded the expectations.”

    The platform has registered equal male and female viewership in the 18-34 age group and a high Average Time Spent (ATS) for “Lock Upp.” International traffic on the app has also shot since it started streaming.

    Commenting on the idea behind launching AVOD with a captive reality show instead of other formats which ALTBalaji has seen success with, Dixit tells us that through AVOD the platform wants to ensure that its content also reaches the audiences that are currently still fence-sitters and buy-in OTT as a mainstream entertainment platform. “There had to be momentous propulsion and a valid reach thrust that would launch AVOD for us, and LockUpp with millions of views gave us that thrust,” she remarks.

    ALSO READ | ALTBalaji’s ‘Lock Upp’ garners 15 million views in 48 hours

    Going ahead, ALTBalaji will explore all different formats of entertainment through AVOD to have a prominent presence in the segment as well as to gain further reach. “Much like how we partnered with MX Player for ‘LockUpp,’ we are open to the ideas of other partnerships that will help us market our platform to the masses,” she asserts.

    The ALTBalaji IP “Lock Upp” was created in partnership with MX Player. Owned by MX Media, MX Player is an ad-supported OTT service with over one billion downloads and 280 million monthly active users globally. The reality show is its first attempt at unscripted content.

    “MX Player and ALTBalaji have always had a great business relationship, therefore we collaborated further on the show,” Dixit shares. “With the reach that MX Player enjoys, and with ALTBalaji emerging as a leader when it comes to unique content and marketing strategies, this is a win-win partnership for both platforms.”

    As ALTBalaji gears up for a long-term AVOD play, it has established separate, dedicated teams and plans for both its AVOD and SVOD offerings to ensure that they do not end up competing with each other. “We have had synergies with several platforms and our history shows that we have managed all those ventures very well and very efficiently. Be it SVOD or AVOD, our main focus has always been to provide world-class entertainment for our fans,” concludes Dixit.

  • Content discovery is overwhelming nearly half of American audiences: Nielsen report

    Content discovery is overwhelming nearly half of American audiences: Nielsen report

    Mumbai: A nearly 20 per cent increase in unique programme titles over the past three years has almost half of the American audiences (46 per cent) feeling overwhelmed by the growing number of services and platforms that makes it more difficult to find the content they’re looking for, revealed audience measurement firm Nielsen’s inaugural ‘State of Play’ report.

    According to the report, consumers now have over 817,000 unique programme titles as of February 2022 vs more than 646,000 as recently as December 2019. The increase in content also comes with an increase in consumption, as 18 per cent of Americans are now paying for four streaming services vs the seven per cent who did so in 2019.

    In February of this year, content from streaming platforms accounted for just under 29 per cent of consumers’ total time with TV, ahead of broadcast programming (26.4 per cent) for the fourth straight month, according to Nielsen’s The Gauge, its monthly total TV and streaming snapshot. In total, Americans watched nearly 15 million years’ worth of streaming video content last year.

    When asked about whether bundled streaming services might make it easier for consumers to find the content they are seeking, 64 per cent of respondents indicated they wish there was a bundled video streaming service that would allow them o choose as few or as many video streaming services that they wanted.

    “The inaugural State of Play really underscores the fact that we’ve entered the next phase of streaming, based on the trends we have been detailing about streaming over the past few years,” said Nielsen SVP product strategy Brian Fuhrer. “We’ve moved from infancy into adolescence and all the complexities that one would expect at that point. It’s not just that streaming is increasing year over year. Now consumers want access simplified and the explosion of services has renewed discussions around bundling and aggregation. Ultimately, these challenges signal an opportunity as the industry harnesses streaming for long-term business growth.”

    ‘State of Play’ highlights the increasing boom of video content in both linear and streaming in recent years. Overall, Americans increased their average weekly time streaming video by 18 per cent, with a year-over-year increase from 143.2 billion streamed minutes to 169.4 billion between February 2021 and February 2022.

    The report reveals two other key takeaways: streaming service consumption is expected to grow, with 93 per cent of Americans reporting they will increase their paid streaming services or make no changes to their existing plans over the next year, and over the last three years there was an 18 per cent increase in all available video content.

    However, due to a nearly 20 per cent increase in unique program titles over the past three years, nearly half of audiences (46 per cent) feel overwhelmed by the growing number of services and platforms that makes it more difficult to find the content they’re looking for.

    Amid the seemingly overwhelming choices provided by new streaming platforms, subscription video on demand (SVOD) now accounts for 53 per cent of minutes streamed. Of the four hours, 49 minutes per day that the average American spends watching content, 1:22 of that is through connected TV (CTV).

    In addition to providing streaming consumption trends and consumer sentiment, ‘State of Play’ details how the streaming landscape has broadened beyond traditional SVOD services. Ad-supported VOD, multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) and virtual MVPDs (vMVPDs) have grown to account for 35 per cent. The percentage of homes with YouTube TV—the vMVPD with the highest household penetration—has grown by over 160 per cent since 2020.

    The ‘State of Play’ report leverages Nielsen TV measurement and streaming data, insights from Gracenote a Nielsen company, and findings from an online custom survey of the US video streamers.

  • Discovery was greatest global commissioner of TV shows in 2021: Ampere

    Discovery was greatest global commissioner of TV shows in 2021: Ampere

    Mumbai: The greatest global commissioner of TV shows in 2021 was Discovery, with a record-breaking 556 first-run TV show titles commissioned in the year, according to market-leading data and analytics firm Ampere. This extends Discovery’s lead of 46, recorded in 2020, to 153 titles by year-end 2021.

    ViacomCBS pipped Netflix for second place with 406 titles compared to Netflix’s 403. Three other contenders – Disney, the BBC and Comcast – came close with 387, 373, and 353 first-run shows respectively, it said.

    This group of six pulled further ahead of their global rivals through 2021 with each supporting the expansion of their own subscription video on demand (SVoD) services. WarnerMedia also accelerated through the year but not enough to rank in the top six.

    However, for 2022 it is those shows commissioned but not yet released, the in-production slate, that will be key, noted Ampere study. Discovery’s typical commissions (largely documentaries) have a shorter production timescale and are lower cost and less high-profile than titles on Netflix’s still predominantly scripted slate. Netflix is set to release most of its 243 in-production TV titles in 2022 (with an additional 106 films) which will push the streamer’s overall slate of original releases to over 2,000 titles.

    It should be noted that the above figures for 2021 exclude the US majors’ growing SVoD film slate.  The US majors combined commissioned 74 film titles specifically for SVoD. However, adding Netflix’s 203 commissioned films in 2021 would push the global streamer into first place, albeit via a less direct comparison.

    Through their in-production TV show commissions for their VoD platforms, studios’ intentions are laid bare. Among all the TV shows currently being produced by Disney, 58 per cent are now originals for its streaming platform, Disney+. WarnerMedia follows closely behind with 85 titles for HBO Max, representing 48 per cent of shows it currently has in production. Titles destined for VoD make up 39 per cent of ViacomCBS’s current slate and 28 per cent of Comcast’s.

    The year 2022 will see further additions to these slates as the studio-backed VoD services continue to expand both their original catalogues and subscriber bases, both domestically and, increasingly, internationally.