Chart Of The Week: Online Video Subscriber Penetration By Age

Streaming video subscriptions are now firmly established as a key component of the pay-TV landscape and look set to be an even bigger part of its future. With Netflix leading the way, SVOD is gaining ground fast. While still a minority activity it increased from 24% of US consumers to 31% in just 12 months:

• 45% of 16-34 year olds subscribe: Between 2013 and 2014 SVOD adoption grew by 10 percentage points to 45% among under 34s.  Growth was strongest among the 25-34s. SVOD is now be on the verge of becoming a mainstream activity (i.e. more than 50% penetration) for these consumers.
• SVOD is growing across all ages: Unlike niche subscriptions like music, SVOD has broad appeal across age and gender.  Gender wise 51% of US SVOD users are male, compare and contrast against the male dominated world of music subscriptions where 70% are male. The across the board growth indicates there will be no realistic let-up in the shift to streaming.

Thus even though cord cutting may be slowing for some operators it reveals the direction of travel: incumbents are slowing, insurgents are growing.  Operators and networks alike know that they must up their streaming game in order to compete.  However, each set of stakeholders have their own end games in mind which means they are not collectively always able to put their best streaming foot forward.  Much to the delight of Netflix, Amazon and Hulu.