SVoD to Capture 95% of Netherlands Home Video Spend by 2023

Video Entertainment Market Analysis and Commentary

When Disney chose the Netherlands as the proving ground for Disney+, launching there (for free) ahead of all other world markets, it entered a country with a strong affinity for Disney content, high penetration of superfast broadband, wide adoption of the English language and a love affair with subscription services.

SVoD Rising as Newcomers Enter the Fray

Futuresource’s latest video insights shows that SVoD (subscription video on demand) accounted for more than 80% of total home video consumer spend in 2019 and close to 15% of overall entertainment spend including Pay-TV and Box Office. What’s more, by the end of 2023, SVoD will be closing in on a 95% share of total home video spend. With Disney+ and Apple TV+ entering the fray late last year, Futuresource expects consumer uptake of multiple services to rise, as well as wider demographic appeal to penetrate households currently not taking SVoD.

“The Netherlands has one of Europe’s highest saturation rates for SVoD and last year was a landmark year,” says Margherita Grosso, Research Analyst at Futuresource Consulting. “2019 ended with half of all households subscribing to at least one SVoD service.”

Local Content Pulls in the Numbers

“Disney+ has been welcomed with open arms,” says Grosso. “With a large helping of hype and a surge of demand driving initial uptake, Netflix subscriber additions may be feeling a few ill effects in the short term, particularly as Disney movies shift from Netflix to Disney+. However, Netflix has a robust proposition in the country and its first Dutch original psychological thriller ‘Ares’, which premiered in January, will help to entrench its subscriber base of around 40% of households. Longer term, much of Disney+ uptake will be additive to the market.”

To date, the SVoD market has been crying out for more competition despite the high household penetration of Netflix and local Dutch SVoD service ‘Videoland’. This local service, although seen as an outlying competitor, is currently growing at a faster rate. The RTL-owned service focuses on local content including reality shows, documentaries and Dutch language drama; Futuresource expects the service to have ended 2019 with around 0.75 million subscribers. Amazon Prime Video has been available in the country since 2015 but has had limited impact to date. This may change as Amazon’s availability on Dutch Pay-TV provider KPN since the end of last year will help to build momentum in advance of the Amazon.nl store launch, which is now inviting sellers to register.

Pay-TV and Box Office Exhibiting Strength

Pay-TV (including basic tier subscriptions) continues to flourish and is almost universally taken. At around 70% it still represents the largest share of video entertainment spend, though its majority continues to recede every year due to the growing significance of SVoD. Box Office has also regained momentum, with a 9% year-on-year revenue increase in 2019 and admissions close behind.

“This upsurge of activity is showing no signs of weakening and we expect continued strong growth from the Netherlands,” says Grosso. “The relentless growth of Pay-TV, SVoD and Box Office will propel the market to a record overall video entertainment spend - on track for 5% CAGR growth - to exceed €3 billion in 2022.”

Futuresource Consulting’s Video Insights Netherlands market report reviews the overall video entertainment market and assesses the impactors and drivers as the sector evolves. Key areas covered include Electronic sell-through (movie and TV), iVoD (movie), subscription online video (SVoD), Pay-TV VoD, DVD and Blu-ray (sell-through and rental), subscription Pay-TV and Box Office. For further information on this report, please contact Jack Tammaro via jack.tammaro@futuresource-hq.com 

About the author

Margherita Grosso