The Mainstreaming Of SVOD How Apple Can Make Video Subscriptions Ready For Primetime

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The 20,000 Foot View

The digital revolution has created an increasingly fragmented TV landscape. Traditional Pay TV still clings to its old business model whilst Netflix and Amazon hammer on its door, wooing audiences and tempting both cord cutters and cord nevers with its headline grabbing content budgets and original commissioning. In between reside new platforms, Content Connectors such as Roku and Chromecast offering the technology of converting dumb TVs into smart TVs but without the ecosystem to support this innovation.  The connected TV space is awaiting its iTunes moment, where a combined software and hardware play with sufficient industry clout can join the dots and take connected TV to the mainstream.  Apple is arguably the only global company with the resources, consumer loyalty, reputation and expertise to do this.

Key Findings

• Apple’s Billing relationships are growing four times as quickly as the largest Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) service is acquiring subscribers
• There are nearly as many Apple TV devices        million) as Comcast customers        million)
• Free-to-view and pay-to-view Video On Demand (VOD) services are now almost equally popular with consumers 
• Content Connectors are building out of a niche with only        penetration, rising to        of        year        of under        year olds have either an iPhone or an iPod
• The launch of Apple Music is part of Apple’s strategy to transition download buyers to streaming, and SVOD could prove to be the biggest        but a third of        to        year olds also subscribe
• Channel success will increasingly depend on using the native creator play book

Companies mentioned in this report: Netflix, HBO, Sky, HBO Now, Sky Go, Apple, Apple TV