SVOD adoption in Germany continues to climb

Results from the Kagan year-end 2021 Germany Consumer Insights survey show a substantial spike in online subscription video use last year, with overall subscription video-on-demand use climbing 9 percentage points over 2020 to 81%. Historic survey data illustrates the steady increase of SVOD services over the past five years.

Use of Amazon Prime Video, the most widely used SVOD service among respondents in Germany, reached 52% at year-end 2021, an increase of 24 percentage points from 2017 and a 7 percentage point growth year over year. Netflix was not far behind, with 22% of internet households using the service in 2017, climbing to 49% in 2021.

The survey found that most SVOD services in Germany showed at least modest subscriber growth last year. Both RTL’s TV Now service and Deutsche Telekom’s Magenta TV showed positive year-over-year growth, each reaching 14% of internet households. Joyn+ — a joint venture offering from ProSiebenSat.1 and Discovery— Apple TV+, Zattoo and Eurosport Player were statistically flat year over year.

SVOD stacking is also a growing trend in Germany. At year-end 2021 the average internet household subscribed to just over two SVOD services, double the number from just four years ago. The vast majority of households subscribing to an SVOD service for the first time in 2021 subscribed to either Amazon Prime Video or Netflix. Yet, overall, Amazon Prime Video and Netflix users both average three SVOD subscriptions per household, while those using Disney+ and the Sky Ticket service average over four SVOD service subscriptions.

Despite typically having multiple SVOD subscriptions, Netflix users report that they spend, on average, more than half (55%) of their daily SVOD viewing hours watching Netflix content. Amazon Prime Video content consumes an average of 41% of daily SVOD viewing hours for its subscribers. SVOD service providers with a majority of users subscribing to four or more SVOD services find it difficult to capture more than one-quarter of daily SVOD viewing time. An exception to this rule is DT’s Magenta TV service where its users spend nearly half (47%) of their daily SVOD viewing hours watching Magenta TV/video content, despite subscribing to 3.8 SVOD services, on average.

In addition to SVOD services, three-quarters (75%) of internet adults in Germany also watch free online ad-supported video services. The survey found that over half (55%) watch YouTube short-form videos. German public service broadcasters ZDF and ARD also have popular online services, attracting 42% and 40% viewership, respectively. Over one-third (37%) of surveyed internet adults said they watch videos on Facebook. Other U.S.-based AVOD services, including Twitch, Pluto TV and Peacock have attracted a much more modest following among German consumers.

The continued expansion of SVOD/AVOD households in Germany, as well as a growing trend toward SVOD stacking has translated into more time watching video-on-demand content. For example, in 2017 60% of survey internet adults reported watching primarily live TV compared to only 26% in 2021. The growing number of new SVOD households can be seen among those who watch mostly live TV, expanding from 22% in 2017 to 37% last year. Those spending one-half or more of their daily TV/video hours watching VOD content has grown from 19% in 2017 to 36% in 2021. S&P Global