Reports: AVOD

Weekly active user (WAU) penetration for the top streaming services is now slowing with quarter-on-quarter growth effectively flat for the leading subscription video on demand (SVOD) services. Peak attention is now clearly here for video. The looming attention recession, which is already impacting the wider digital entertainment landscape, will exacerbate the greater underlying disengagement trends such as cancelling subscriptions that are starting to impact on video.

Ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) has been championed as the free-to-access equivalent of subscription video on demand (SVOD). However, for AVOD to become the digital successor to free-to-view TV it needs to break out of its current niche user base.

Ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) continues to lag behind subscription video on demand (SVOD) in a US market still heavily focused on paid subscriptions. AVOD weekly active engagement grew steadily in Q3 2020, and across all leading four AVOD services between Q1 to Q3 2020.

In the shift to streaming, advertising has been sidelined by the growth of streaming video on demand (SVOD) in the US video market. However, Hulu’s growth, along with increasing competition for consumers’ digital wallet, is helping to make the case that there is an opportunity to replicate traditional pay-TV’s subscription and advertising model.

Video streaming services in Southeast Asia first appeared in 2015 and have evolved into the main video consumption platforms for local consumers. With a combined population of 371.65 million, and a combined GDP of $2.9 trillion, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia represent sizeable and attractive growth markets for streaming services.