Study Shows SVOD Market Grew by 23% Led By Disney Plus, HBO Max, and CBS All Access

It’s no secret that the growth of the streaming space was monumental in 2020. Disney+ alone clocked in millions of new subscribers to reach 86.8 million.

Now, a new study by Antenna shows premium SVOD market grew 23% in 2020. Much of that growth has come from Disney Plus, HBO Max, and CBS All Access.

According to Antenna, Netflix and Hulu had 75 percent market share at the end of Q3 2019. However, by the end of 2020, that number was down to 54 percent as Disney+ went from one percent to 18 percent share in that period.

Source: ANTENNA

Antenna found that Disney+ accounted for almost a third of subscriber growth in 2020. HBO Max accounted for 22 percent of subscriber growth, while and CBS All Access accounted for 13 percent.

Source: ANTENNA

When it comes to share of new sign-ups though, HBO Max saw big gains in the second half of the year. By Q4 2020, HBO Max accrued 23% of all new SVOD sign-ups – up from 16% from the year prior (when it was still HBO NOW).

After launching “Wonder Woman 1984” on the platform on Christmas Day, HBO Max and HBO reached 41.5 million subscribers at the end of Q4 2020. This is an increase of 3.5 million from the 38.5 million they had at the end of Q3, and nearly 7 million increase in 2020.

Source: ANTENNA

Netflix, by comparison, announced last week that they had reached nearly 74 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada. Hulu’s has reached 38.8 million subscribers, while NBCU’s Peacock had 33 million sign-ups to date.

Some of the growth for streaming services has been their ability to bundle streaming with wireless or Internet plans. Verizon has included Disney+ in Unlimited plans since launch, and now includes the entire bundle for premium subscribers. AT&T includes HBO Max in most Unlimited Plans. Comcast includes Peacock Premium for free for Xfinity subscribers.

During their Q4 earnings call, Verizon’s EVP & CFO Matthew Ellis revealed that majority of Verizon customers who took advantage of the offer have kept the service. “As the early cohort of Disney+ customers have come off of the initial free 12-month period, more than 2/3 have maintained their subscription, either through their Verizon direct billing relationship or by opting into one of our newest Mix & Match plans with the Disney bundle included.”