Netflix and chill, people, please. Subscription streaming is still a viable business, albeit one that is facing some saturation issues in its biggest market.
The percentage of U.S. consumers subscribing to at least one subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service is up 12% since the end of 2020, according to new data published by Hub Entertainment Research.
And while the proportion of U.S. consumers subscribing to Netflix began to flatten out toward the second half of 2021 in Hub's findings, Netflix penetration is still 9 points higher in 2022 than it was at the start of 2021.
Half of U.S. consumers now subscribe to one of the "Big Five" SVOD services: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney Plus and HBO Max. That's up 10% since the end of 2020, as well.
“At some point, a service as widely penetrated as Netflix has only so much room left to grow," said Peter Fondulas, principal at Hub and co-author of the study. "In our view, it would be a grave mistake to take the Netflix experience as a sign that streaming TV services are on the verge of decline, as some analysts have suggested. The lure of buzzworthy exclusive content, and the sheer convenience of on-demand viewing, are two powerful forces that should keep these services growing at least for the near term.”
Meanwhile, U.S. subscriptions to linear pay TV were down 5% since the end of 2020, but vMVPD penetration ticked up 5%.
And the percentage of American consumers using ad-supported services was up 10 points to 60%.
Overall, Americans report using far more video "sources" than ever, combining over-the-air antenna, pay TV, SVOD and AVOD platforms.
On average, U.S. consumers are tapping 7.4 video sources vs. just 5.7 at the end of 2020, according to Hub.
Hub polled 1,600 adult Americans in this "Best Bundle" survey.
