Stream, interact, repeat Why SVOD needs a social engagement revolution
Our clients have full access to all of our reports. Clients can log in to read this report. Click here to become a client or, you can purchase this individual report.
20,000 foot view: Audience engagement with subscription video on demand (SVOD) services is sliding, with multi-tasking on social media often relegating shows to background viewing. Social media is the threat, but also the catalyst for a radical recalibration of the SVOD viewing experience that will help these services claw back what is lost. Pushing beyond passive viewing, and toward a socially interactive experience inspired by video games and livestreams, will create the counter-offensive SVOD needs to win the allegiance of generation Z. Doing so will unlock monetisation and metaverse opportunities that will diversify revenue streams to protect SVOD’s future during a period of increasing economic uncertainty for consumers.
Key insights
-
SVOD services are struggling to maintain attention in a saturated attention environment – weekly video hours fell by between 2021 and 2022
-
Meanwhile, social media weekly hours increased over the same period by to hours
-
SVOD engagement is further pressured by entertainment multi-tasking – socialising while engaging in digital expanding from hours to hours per week
-
SVOD’s risk is that social media is capturing the most committed viewers – in 2022, of US binge watchers used YouTube daily and used TikTok
-
SVOD has an opportunity to embrace social behaviours that drive engagement – US binge watchers over-index for commenting, liking, or sharing at 2022)
-
Convincing older demographics to embrace a hybrid SVOD / social experience will be key as they remain committed to traditional entertainment
-
SVOD services will be able to combat attention inflation by poaching behaviours from livestreaming platforms that drive focused engagement
-
SVOD users embrace social interactive behaviours – Amazon Prime Video and Netflix subscribers over-index on social engagement behaviours at 2022)
-
A hybrid SVOD / social experience can also tackle the fickle viewing habits of gen Z, who are digital natives that graze across streaming services and social media
-
In 2022, younger generations streamed movies and shows in shorter bursts – of watched less than five hours of TV shows or movies on SVOD services every week
-
Embracing social will be crucial in squeezing the engagement time needed from gen Z to secure SVOD’s future
Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Games Studio, Amazon Fire, Cult of the Lamb, Devolver Digital, Disney+, Fortnite, Google TV, HBO, Hulu, Massive Monster, Netflix, Stranger Things, Teleparty, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Roku, TikTok, Twitch, YouTube