SVOD services with the highest potential in the paid VOD services market

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SVOD services attract the largest number of users of paid VOD services in Poland. PMR estimates that in 2018, subscribers to such platforms accounted for nearly 64% of the market volume.
Popularity of SVOD
SVOD subscription services are the most popular model of access to paid VOD services in Poland. According to PMR’s estimates, SVOD subscribers account for over 60% of the total market volume. It should be noted, however, that this percentage also includes users of SVOD services sold through the operator channel. It concerns mainly the HBO GO service, together with the TV offer of cable and satellite providers. At the same time, HBO GO has also been available for direct sales for more than a year.

Why SVOD?
The most popular and recognizable brands on the SVOD market are Netflix, HBO GO, CDA Premium, Ipla and Player. The main reasons for using paid SVOD services are the high quality and originality of the products available on them or the lack of advertisements broadcast while watching them. Subscription services are particularly popular among young people and the younger generation of adult Poles.
SVOD and pay TV: partnership or rivalry?
There are many theories on the interaction between the pay TV and SVOD markets, mainly with an emphasis on the losses of pay TV providers to online video subscriptions. At present, however, both services are being developed as complementary to each other. This means that there is no mass exodus of pay TV subscribers to subscription services on the market. There are several reasons for this, and the main ones include:
- a diverse range of programmes from TV providers that is difficult to replace, including a wide range of thematic and premium channels available from cable and satellite operators; streaming services, on the other hand, offer mainly films and series
- affordability of the TV offer compared to SVOD services
- live broadcasts of events on television offer
- underdeveloped offer of local content within SVOD services
- a technology barrier that limits streaming platforms – SVOD can be used if you have a sufficiently high speed internet connection.
Therefore, the users of pay TV in Poland themselves consider VOD services to be a supplement to linear TV in the vast majority of cases, and at the current stage of market development it is difficult to assume that in the next few years there will be a reversal of the trend on a larger scale. The future of TV in Poland will therefore be based on synergies with VOD and OTT services and interactive applications, and the scenario assuming full replacement of linear TV with services on demand is unlikely (at least in Poland).
More information on the VOD services market in the PMR report: Pay TV and VOD market in Poland 2019. Market analysis and development forecasts for 2019-2024.