Streaming services continue to grow, albeit at a slower rate than what was seen during the tight lockdowns of 2020.
Statista shows that Netflix is the top streaming service in the world, with 222 million subscribers in 191 countries. Amazon Prime Video has 175 million subscribers in 190 countries. China’s iQiyi has 106 million subscribers in 191 countries, but has been pushed out of third spot by Disney+ (Disney Plus), which is about to hit 130 million subscribers.
Steady market growth in the two years since launch in late 2019 has seen Disney+ penetrate over 60 markets around the world to date, with this number set to grow to 106 countries this year, after it launches in another 42 countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The targeted countries in Africa are Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia.
However, subscriber growth for both Disney+ and Netflix slowed in 2021, with Disney+ adding some 35 million subscribers, while Netflix added 18.2 million. This took Netflix back to its 2016 growth figure, after its big surge in 2020. Growth at Disney+ slowed significantly compared to the big surge also seen in 2020.
These surges were probably driven by the tight lockdowns in 2020, when Netflix gained well over 30 million subscribers and Disney grew from below 40 million to almost 100 million subscribers.
According to TechCrunch, revenue for the subscription video-on-demand sector tripled from 2016 to 2020 and is projected to reach US$126 billion by 2026.
Streaming around the world
The Hootsuite/WeAreSocial annual report on all things digital shows that streaming TV’s share of total TV watch time has shown continuous growth since 2013. ‘Time spent watching streaming TV services’ as a percentage of total time spent watching TV by internet users aged 16-64 grew from 25.7% in 2013Q3 to 29.5% in 2015Q3, then to36.5% in 2017Q3, and then to 41.2% in 2019Q3. It reached 44.3% in 2021Q3.
The report also shows that the percentage of internet users aged 16-64 who use a streaming service every month is very high all around the world. The worldwide average is 93.5%, while there are differences between countries, e.g. Japan is at 76.1%, France is at 89.3%, Mexico is at 97.9% and Philippines is at 98.3%.
In Africa, South Africa leads the rankings, with 96.6% (and therefore above the worldwide average), followed by Egypt, with 90.9% (and therefore below the worldwide average). No doubt the numbers will grow significantly in the next few years in the six countries that are getting Disney+ this year. (Note that the Hootsuite/WeAreSocial country dataset shows only a selected 44 countries and only the two countries indicated from Africa.)
Netflix top 10
The top 10 movies of 2021 on Netflix, in terms of hours of viewing in the first 28 days, are shown in the first graph below. Red Notice is at number 1 (364 million), followed by Don’t Look Up (321 million) and Bird Box (282 million).
The second graph shows the top 10 TV shows of 2021 on Netflix, in terms of hours of viewing in the first 28 days. Squid Game I is at number 1 (1 650 million), followed by Bridgerton I (625 million) and Money Heist IV (619 million).
Juliet Gillies is a highly skilled writer, editor and English specialist. She is a skilled, experienced writer, having started in the marketing/communication field, but now focuses on educational materials and articles on Digital / Social Media / Marketing matters. She has been writing and editing at a professional level for more than 30+ years.
(Sources: Statista; Statista streaming services; Statista Netflix; TechCruch; WeAreSocial )
