Smaller Streaming Services Thriving; Growing Faster Than Netflix & Hulu, New Study Says
Smaller niche streaming services are thriving, and in some cases growing faster than their larger counterparts, according to a new analysis of data from the second quarter of 2021 by media analytics firm ANTENNA.
According to ANTENNA's findings, services like HBO Max, Peacock, Disney+, and Paramount+ have taken market share from Netflix and Hulu, over the past year. “Netflix and Hulu now make up just 48% of category Subscriptions and have accounted for only 9% of category growth in the past two years,” the report said.
In mid-2019, Netflix and Hulu accounted for nearly 75 percent of category subscriptions. Now that number is dwindling, thanks, in part, to strong showings by Disney+ and HBO Max.
ANTENNA also found that smaller, niche services like AMC+ and BET+ are thriving — and growing faster than their larger counterparts. The firm found that “the ten Specialty SVOD services we are tracking have a two-year compound annual growth rate [CAGR] of 74%, compared to 30% for our ten Premium SVODs.”
The niche services ANTENNA analyzed included Sundance Now, Shudder, PBS Masterpiece, EPIX, Acorn TV, BritBox, CuriosityStream, BET+, AMC+, and Cinemax.
When they analyzed subscriber growth, many of the top names were smaller services outside of the usual names but included two very interesting names near the top — Paramount+ and HBO Max. For these services to grow while main competitors like Hulu and Netflix slowly add subscribers (or even lose them year-over-year in Netflix’s case) could signal a shift in the industry coming down the pipeline.
The success of the smaller services is no doubt a positive sign for the industry, as many feared that they’d get lost in the shuffle with the bevy of options available. This is promising for smaller, niche services like Games Workshop’s upcoming Warhammer-themed service, Warhammer+, that services a niche community, albeit a community that loves every piece of content they get.
Regardless, ANTENNA says it best at the end of their report, saying, “As entertainment fans, we can all be excited about this thriving, diverse SVOD market. As ANTENNA, we can breathe a sigh of relief that we do, in fact, have a vibrant ecosystem to measure, after all!”