US SVOD subscriptions steady

Over three-quarters of US households are subscribed to one of Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu.

According to Leichtman Research Group, the total percentage of households subscribed to one of the above services is at 78% – steady from the same percentage in 2020 and significantly higher than the 59% total in 2016.

While the overall number remains the same, subscription stacking is increasing in the US. 74% have more than one – compared to 70% in 2020, 69% in 2019, and 47% in 2016. Some 58% of US households now have more than one of these SVOD services – compared to 55% in 2020, 51% in 2019, and 28% in 2016.

The report goes on to note that 41% of all US adults stream a top SVOD service daily, with ages 18-44 accounting for 67% of all adults using SVOD daily. Including eleven additional streaming services, 82% of US households have at least one SVOD or DTC service and 53% have three or more. 

The mean number of SVOD/DTC services among all households is 3.1 – compared to 2.9 in 2020

Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, said: “The percent of households with a top SVOD service held steady in 2021, and those using any of these services daily also levelled off after being pulled forward last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. While the breadth of households with a major SVOD service is similar to last year, those with multiple top SVOD services continued to expand. And, including eleven additional streaming video services, 27% of households now report having five or more SVOD or DTC services.”