Apple’s AppleTV+ streaming service may be (just barely) arriving in the nick of time. A study from Digital TV Research has found that the gross number of global subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) customers increased by 139 million in 2018 to 508 million, up 38% annually, with net subs rising by 83 million in 2018 to reach 357 million, a rise of 31%.
The SVOD Databook calculated that this growth means that the average SVOD subscriber paid for 1.43 SVOD subscriptions by the end of 2018. That’s up from 1.05 in 2010.
China and the U.S. together accounted for 63% of the global total in 2018 with the former overtaking the latter in 2018 to become the gross SVOD subscription leader. Digital TV Research noted that China added nearly 60 million subscriptions in 2018 alone, with the US up by 27 million, a feat the analyst says was notable given the maturity of the market.
Eight countries in the SVOD Databook had more than 10 million SVOD subscriptions by the end of 2018, collectively providing four-fifths of the global total. India nearly doubled its subscription base.
Digital TV Research also calculated that gross SVOD subscriptions represented 30.5% of TV households in 2018. The proportion of net SVOD subscribers was 21.4%. This meant that more than a fifth of the world’s TV households had at least one SVOD subscription by the end of 2018.
Apple TV+ will arrive Nov. 1. The cost will be $4.99/month — or free for one year with the purchase of a new Mac, iPhone, or iPad.
