Institute of Media Environment Conducts Second Market Structure Survey on SVOD Services Number of Users Up Slightly, Devices Shifting to TV Screens, Services Overwhelmingly Used at Night

The Hakuhodo DY Media Partners Institute of Media Environment, located in Minato-ku, Tokyo, and headed by Masataka Yoshikawa, has been conducting its Second Market Structure Survey on Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) services. A variety of SVOD services have entered the Japanese market since the first survey was conducted last October, so this second survey conducted in March was a means of identifying the most recent changes in the market structure.

Key findings are described below.

●The total number of current and prospective users of SVOD services increased since the last survey from 18.7% to 20.9%. Market structure has not changed significantly in this regard, with potential viewership still at around 20% of the total (see figure 1). There has been an increase in the number of female service users age 20–59, as well as a high rate of increase in prospective users among teenage girls (see figures 2 and 3).

●The percentage of users who indicated that they use their TV with the service increased from 34.7% to 40.7%, indicating a shift in devices towards the TV screen (see figure 4).

●In terms of the general situation in which the services are used, 80.7% of respondents said that they watched “at night, when relaxing at home”, while 27.8% said that they watched “in bed, before falling asleep”. These results indicate overwhelming nighttime usage (see figure 5).

●For the first time, sei-katsu-sha said that they evaluated SVOD services based on “being able to watch wherever and whenever I want, as many times as I want”, “being able to watch multiple programs at the same time”, and “high-quality original programming”. This shows that they are adopting perspectives that reflect a familiarity with actual use of the services (see figure 6).

●The percentage of users who said that they are fine with commercial interruptions (advertisements) if it means they don’t have to pay for the service increased slightly over the last survey, topping 40% (see figure 7).

Note: SVOD services are defined as both Japanese and overseas video services offering unlimited access to popular television drama series, anime, movies, and similar content for a flat monthly fee in the JPY 500–1000 range. Content can be viewed on all devices, including televisions, computers, smartphones, and tablets.