The domestic subscription streaming business is in recession, according to new data published in TiVo’s “Q2 Video Trends Report.”
Surveying 4,518 adults in the U.S. and Canada, Xperi Corp. video unit TiVo found that the average North American home is spending nearly $20 a month less on video entertainment each month vs. the fourth quarter of 2022, with expenditures averaging $170.86 per household.
Meanwhile, over the same two-quarter span, the average number of video sources regularly used by each survey respondent declined from 11.6 - 10.9, with average “paid” services dropping from 7.6 to 6.9 and “non-paid” platforms increasing from 3.9 to 4.0.
Also telling: 23% of respondents said they've dropped at least one SVOD service in the past year, although usage of partially ad-supported subscription video tiers is rising (see chart).
Overall video consumption, however, keeps rising, according to TiVo, up to 4.7 hours a day vs. 4.4 hours six months earlier.
Not surprisingly, the report suggests the growth comes from free ad-supported streaming platforms (FASTs), which now account for more than 50% of domestic streaming consumption.
TiVo didn't release any specific data but it said Fox's Tubi has surpassed the Roku Channel as the No. 1 FAST platform.
Social video usage is up, too, according to the report, with the percentage of respondents saying they watch video on platforms like the erstwhile Twitter rising from 80% to 85% from Q4 2022 to Q2 2023.
Still, we have to ask — is the U.S. SVOD business really shrinking? As with all these research reports highlighted in pubs like ours, described trend lines can vary wildly. For example, Informa research group Omdia recently published data suggesting that U.S. spending on SVOD was up 18.13% year over year in the second quarter.
