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Video Streaming to Hit 1 Billon as Lockdown’s Economic Bright Spot

They say every dark cloud… well you know. For the current state of affairs, that silver lining is streaming video on demand (SVOD) subscriptions, which will hit a whopping 1.1 billion by mid 2025, with 81% growth in the category according to Digital TV Research. The group also said that Disney and Netflix in particular are reaping the benefits with both expected to reach over 200M sub’s by then.

That’s SVOD subscription growth globally by over one-half billion viewers (519M) between 2019 and 2025 to hit 1,161M with a 2020 lockdown jumpstart of 170M this year (2020) alone.

“We have completely revised our forecasts for 138 countries in the wake of the Covid 19 pandemic. A major impact of lockdown has been a steep rise in SVOD subscriptions,” according to Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research.

Notably, China, the world’s most populous state, claims 269M subscribers by the end of the period, with no new entrants (“foreign platforms”) forecast to enter their SVOD domestic market, according to the research company.

Digital TV Research logo

Disney+ and Netflix to amass 460 million subs

Source: Digital TV Research

The lions share (640M) of the new subs will be shared among the top three, with Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon combined hitting almost 600M subscribers, HBO and Apple+ are at 25M and 14M respectively, to round out the top 5. China along with the others pushes to total SVOD number past the 1.1B mark by the end of 2025, reckons Digital TV Research.

Other forms of lockdown behavior change

That said there is an unprecedented list of programming that has been adversely affected by the current situation. Have a look below at the list provided by deadline.com for your favorite show, that may just be in peril…

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INTERNATIONAL

Around the World in 80 Days (BBC’s CBBC, UK; Seven, Australia; TVNZ, New Zealand)
Baptiste (BBC One, UK)
Britannia (Sky, UK)
Casualty (BBC News, UK)
Celebrity Race Across The World (BBC Two, UK)
Doctors (BBC News, UK)
EastEnders (BBC, UK)
The Great British Bake Off (Channel 4, Netflix, UK)
Holby City (BBC News, UK)
Line of Duty (BBC, UK)
Love Island France (Amazon, France)
Neighbours (Network 10, Australia)
Peaky Blinders (BBC, UK)

STREAMING

Angelyne (Peacock)
Animal Kingdom (TNT)
Big Shot (Disney+)
Carnival Row (Amazon Prime)
Doom Patrol (HBO Max)
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+)
The Flight Attendant (HBO Max)
For All Mankind (Apple TV+)
Foundation (Apple TV+)
GLOW (Netflix)
Gossip Girl (HBO Max)
Grace and Frankie (Netflix)
The Handmaid’s tale (Hulu)
The Good Fight (CBS All Access)
Lisey’s Story (Apple TV+)
Little America (Apple TV+)
Loki (Disney+)
Lucifer (Netflix)
Mankind (Apple TV+)
The Morning Show (Apple TV+)
Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet (Apple TV+)
The Orville (Hulu)
Pen15 (Hulu)
Prank Encounters (Netflix)
Russian Doll (Netflix)
Rutherford Falls (Peacock)
See (Apple TV+)
Servant (Apple TV+)
Sex Education (Netflix)
Sex/Life (Netflix)
Simply Halston (Netflix)
Sistas (BET)
Stranger Things (Netflix)
Tokyo Vice (HBO Max)
Untitled Julia Child Project (HBO Max)
Varsity Blues (Quibi)
WandaVision (Disney+)
The Wheel of Time (Amazon)
The Witcher (Netflix)
SYNDICATION
The Dr. Oz Show
Dr. Phil
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Family Feud
The Kelly Clarkson Show
The Mel Robbins Show
Tamron Hall
The Wendy Williams Show

BROADCAST (USA)

All Rise (CBS)
The Amazing Race (CBS)
American Housewife (ABC)
America’s Got Talent (NBC)
American Ninja Warrior (NBC)
The Bachelor (ABC)
The Bachelorette (ABC)
Batwoman (The CW)
The Blacklist (NBC)
Bob Hearts Abishola (CBS)
The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)
The Brides (ABC)
Bull (CBS)
Card Sharks (ABC)
Charmed (the CW)
Chicago Fire (NBC)
Chicago P.D. (NBC)
Chicago Med (NBC)
Claws (TNT)
Dynasty (The CW)
Empire (Fox)
FBI (CBS)
FBI: Most Wanted (CBS)
The Flash (The CW)
General Hospital (ABC)
God Friended Me (CBS)
The Goldbergs (ABC)
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC)
Last Man Standing (Fox)
Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
The Late Late Show with James Corden (CBS)
Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC)
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS)
Legacies (The CW)
Nancy Drew (the CW)
NCIS (CBS)
NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS)
NCIS: New Orleans (CBS)
The Neighborhood (CBS)
New Amsterdam (NBC)
neXt (Fox)
The Price Is Right (CBS)
The Resident (Fox)
Riverdale (The CW)
Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Schooled (ABC)
SEAL Team (CBS)
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Supergirl (The CW)
Supernatural (The CW)
Superstore (NBC)
Survivor (CBS)
S.W.A.T. (CBS)
The Talk (CBS)
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC)
The Young and the Restless (CBS)
Young Sheldon (CBS)
Related Story
Coronavirus: List Of Canceled Or Postponed Hollywood & Media Events

CABLE (USA)

Atlanta (FX)
Barry (HBO)
The Bold Type (Freeform)
Chopped (Food Network)
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Comedy Central)
Euphoria (HBO)
Fargo (FX)
Fear the Walking Dead (AMC)
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS)
Genius: Aretha (National Geographic Channel)
Godmothered (Disney Channel)
Home & Family (Hallmark Channel)
Impeachment: American Crime Story (FX)
Kennedy (Fox Business)
Kevin Can F**k Himself (AMC)
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO; last show 3/15)
Lights Out with David Spade (Comedy Central)
My 600-lb. Life (TLC)
The Oval (BET)
Pennyworth (Epix)
Pose (FX)
Queen of the South (USA)
Queen Sugar (OWN)
Real Time With Bill Maher (HBO; last show 3/13)
The Righteous Gemstones (HBO)
Snowfall (FX)
Succession (HBO)
Snowpiercer (TNT)
Trish Regan Primetime (Fox Business)
The Walking Dead (AMC, delayed)
Watch What Happens Live (Bravo)
Y (FX)
Young Dylan (Nickelodeon)

This is a remarkable list that makes one wonder, with all the SVOD activity will there be enough content to fill the demand? And how will new content be created with ‘social distancing’?

Finally, over Mother’s day, Verizon reported a 13% increase in voice calls over a typical Sunday before the pandemic, as well as a 25% increase in texts over the previous Sunday, (funny I would expect more…) The Monday, report from the company said they counted 1.75 billion minutes of talk time, up 11% over the previous Sunday, May 3. There were more than 6 billion text messages sent.

Suffice it to say, “the times they are a chang’n…” and we could use another Robert Allen Zimmerman ballad right now… Stephen Sechrist