The Mainstreaming Of SVOD How Apple Can Make Video Subscriptions Ready For Primetime

The 20,000 Foot View The digital revolution has created an increasingly fragmented TV landscape. Traditional Pay TV still clings to its old business model whilst Netflix and Amazon hammer on its door, wooing audiences and tempting both cord cutters and cord nevers with its headline grabbing content budgets and original commissioning. In between reside new platforms, Content Connectors such as Roku and Chromecast offering the technology of converting dumb TVs into smart TVs but without the ecosystem to support this innovation.  The connected TV space is awaiting its iTunes moment, where a combined software and hardware play with sufficient industry clout can join the dots and take connected TV to the mainstream.  Apple is arguably the only global company with the resources, consumer loyalty, reputation and expertise to do this. Key Findings

• Apple’s Billing            are growing four times as            as the largest Subscription Video            Demand (SVOD) service is acquiring           
• There are            as many Apple TV devices            as Comcast customers            million)
• Free-to-view and            Video On Demand (VOD) services            now almost equally popular with           
• Content Connectors            building out of a niche            only            penetration, rising to            of            olds
           of under            year olds have either an iPhone or an iPod
• The launch            Apple Music is part of            strategy to transition download buyers            streaming, and SVOD could prove            be the biggest winner
           but a third of            to            year olds also subscribe
• Channel success            increasingly depend on using the            creator play book

Companies mentioned in this report: Netflix, HBO, Sky, HBO Now, Sky Go, Apple, Apple TV