Cable vs Subscription VOD : The Numbers

Parks Associates says 60 percent of SVOD subscribers have canceled one or more service in the past year. Yet they appear to ping to other services instead of abandoning SVOD altogether, accounting for the healthy growth.

Here’s a look at how the three biggest Subscription VOD sites compare to the three biggest premium cable networks.

While Netflix and Amazon have moved ahead in total subscribers, cable has tallied notable growth since 2010 even against that added competition.

SVOD SITES

NETFLIX

Owner: Netflix

U.S. subscribers: 44.7 million

Growth since 2010: +24.6 million

Signature shows: “House of Cards,” “Orange is the New Black,” “Making a Murderer”

Interesting fact: Netflix accounted for more than a third of all web entertainment traffic in 2015.

AMAZON

Owner: Amazon

U.S. subscribers: 54 million

Growth since 2010: +50 million

Signature shows: “Transparent,” “Mozart in the Jungle,” “The Man in the High Castle”

Interesting fact: Amazon video subscriptions come as part of an Amazon Prime subscription, which offers free two-day shipping for online orders. About 40 percent of Amazon Prime subscribers watch video every week, which equals 21.6 million people.

HULU

Owner: Disney-ABC Television Group, Fox Broadcasting and NBCUniversal Television Group

U.S. subscribers: 9 million

Growth since 2010: +8.7 million

Signature shows: “The Mindy Project,” “The Awesomes,” “Casual”

Interesting fact: Hulu has the highest churn rate of the Big Three SVOD sites.

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PAY CABLE NETWORKS

HBO

Owner: Time Warner

U.S. subscribers: 32.3 million

Growth since 2010: +4.3 million

Signature shows: “Game of Thrones,” “Girls,” “Veep”

Interesting fact: Analysts project that HBO Now, the network’s over-the-top service launched last year, will have 5 million subscribers by 2020.

STARZ

Owner: Starz

U.S. subscribers: 23.3 million

Growth since 2010: +6.1 million

Signature shows: “Outlander,” “Black Sailes,” “Flesh and Bone”

Interesting fact: Starz surpassed Showtime in subscribers for the first time ever in 2015.

SHOWTIME

Owner: CBS Corp.

U.S. subscribers: 23.2 million

Growth since 2010: +3.2 million

Signature shows: “Homeland,” “The Affair,” “Shameless”

Interesting fact: The network has been trying to draw new subscribers by sampling its shows for free online prior to their debuts. New drama “Billions” drew 1.4 million online viewers before its Jan. 17 bow, a new record.

Note: Numbers culled from Parks Associates, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, SNL Kagan and quarterly numbers from the companies themselves.

Source : Medialife