TV Fandom Q2 2018 SVOD Audiences Become Mainstream

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The 20,000 Foot View: TV fandom underpins viewing across all platforms and territories, but is being reshaped by streaming, with audiences having much greater control over what they watch. This choice-led viewing provides the foundations for deeper degrees of audience fandom, but also the diminishment of more passive audience elements. Subscription video on demand (SVOD) continued to disrupt traditional linear pay-TV service offerings in 2018, with Netflix increasing its weekly active users (WAUs) from to year-on-year and household SVOD subscriptions increasing from to over the same period. The shift to SVOD has not yet directly reshaped the type of shows that dominate fandom, with the Big Bang Theory still the most popular, but it has illustrated the homogenisation of consumer characteristics across demographics, as the developed markets become increasingly digitally native. This is where the change begins.
Key Findings
- Netflix saw WAU penetration increase YoY from in 2017 to in 2018
- The number of pay-TV Households in the US, UK, Australia and Canada decreased YoY from in 2017 to in 2018
- SVOD households increased from in 2017 to in 2018
- The Big Bang Theory has the highest fan penetration in the US, Canada and Australia
- Blue Planet has the highest fan penetration in the UK with penetration, but only and in the US, Australia and Canada respectively
- The Voice has fandom penetration among females, ranking third most popular show, but for males with fan penetration year olds is the only age segment where Big Bang Theory does not rank highest for fan penetration
- SVOD shows granted longer life spans with Stranger Things fandom increasing YoY, even though its latest release was 2017
- Of the top three shows for fandom, NCIS fans have the highest average age and lowest penetration rates for streaming behaviour
- The top five shows for awareness were all distributed on pay-TV in 2018, with The Big Bang Theory leading the way with penetration
Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Reasons Why, Amazon, Amazon Prime, AMC, American Horror Story, BBC, Blue Planet, Catfish, CBS, Doctor Who, Facebook, Foxtel, Foxtel Now, Game of Thrones, HBO, HBO Now, ITV, Luke Cage, Man In The High Castle, Mr Robot, NCIS, Netflix, NowTV, Sherlock, Sky, Stranger Things, The Big Bang Theory, The Flash, The Voice, The Walking Dead, Top Gear, Transparent, Twitter