Comscore has released its 2022 State of Streaming which shows that ad-supported streaming services (AVOD) are being adopted at a faster rate than subscription-based services (SVOD). AVOD services saw a 29% increase in 2022, compared to 2020. SVOD services saw a 21% increase in the same time period.
Comscore’s 2022 State of Streaming analysis looks at the services consumers are using and trends in the industry, giving us a better look at how streamers are choosing to watch content.
“While both ad-supported and subscription-based streaming services are growing in the U.S., we’re seeing that consumers are being more mindful of their budgets and leaning towards ad-supported services,” said James Muldrow, Vice President, Product Management at Comscore. “This makes sense as inflation continues to hit consumer’s wallets. The time is ripe for traditionally subscription-based streaming services like Netflix to consider launching an ad-supported tier to enhance their growth trajectory.”
Along with the rise in popularity of AVOD services, highlights of Comscore’s 2022 State of Streaming findings include:
- “The Big Five” streaming services – Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, and Peacock – are now joined by HBO Max. In terms of audience overlap, Netflix has an 82% overlap with the other top six streaming services, especially Amazon (66%) and YouTube (66%).
- Smart TVs are the fastest-growing segment of streaming devices with 48% growth year over year. Samsung remains the top Smart TV brand at 26% of market share. TCL now accounts for 15% and Vizio 14%.
- 79% of Wifi-enabled homes are watching streaming content on connected devices and each such household is spending about 122 hours per month streaming content. That’s a 19% increase from March 2021. Netflix captures the most hours per month watched at 43, followed closely by YouTube at 39 hours and Hulu at 33 hours.
- Amazon Prime Video has the highest resonance with the younger TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat & Twitch engagers, showcasing its strength in driving engagement with content & social marketing.