Jefferies has upgraded Netflix to hold after the investment research firm surveyed consumers in Germany and India, finding strong demand for American SVOD services.
The report, issued this morning, also bodes well for Amazon, which is also embarking on a global expansion of its subscription video on demand platform.
“The growth opportunity appears larger than we expected, as original content is performing well, mobile consumption is growing, competition appears limited and the pricing plan is gaining traction,” said Jefferies analyst John Janedis, author of the report, “Netflix: International Headwins Appear Muted.”
According to the Jefferies survey, 74% of respondents in India who have SVOD services use Amazon Prime Video, while 63% subscribe to Netflix and 41% use both services. Only 10% use a local platform, or any other SVOD service, for that matter.
In Germany, 67% of survey respondents who use SVOD have Prime Video, while 45% use Netflix. Jefferies said 21% of German respondents use both services, while 14% use a local or other platform.
Notably, pricing for the American SVOD services is widely accepted in both countries—only 6% of Indian respondents said they would bolt Netflix if it raised prices, for example. Both regions, meanwhile, registered a strong appeal for original content. For instance, 66% of German respondents said originals is what they watch the most on SVOD.
The Jefferies data jibes with a report released last week by research company Rethink Technology Solutions, which suggested Netflix’s growth projections in Europe are “way too low.”
Rethink projected that over-the-top subscriptions in Europe will generate $9.8 billion in revenue by 2021, an increase of $4.76 billion over the next five years.
The research company predicted that Netflix, which has 19 million customers in the European region right now, will have 45 million by 2021.