Amazon Prime Video and Discovery+ grabbed the highest percentage of new subscription video on demand subscribers in the U.S. during the second quarter.
According to new data from Kantar, Prime Video—which claimed 17.1% of new subscribers in Q2—regained the top spot for new subscribers for the first time since the third quarter of 2020. Discovery+, in just its second quarter of operation in the U.S., jumped into the second spot with 10.3%.
“While most services have suffered a reduction in new subscribers for Q2’21, Amazon Prime Video has gained market penetration (up +3% YoY to 58%) and ranks first place for share of new subscribers. Looking at these new subscribers’ path to purchase, Amazon Prime Video is gaining through owned touchpoints such as offering a free trial and subscribers visiting Amazon.com,” the company wrote. “Amazon Prime Video is currently amongst the highest for free trials at 31%, beaten only by Apple TV+ at 37%. Both factors indicate that Prime Video is still benefitting from the up surge of Amazon Prime subscriptions taken out during lockdown.”
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Amazon Prime Video, Discovery+ and Peacock (up to 5.7% from 4.7%) all managed to grow their shares of new U.S. SVOD subscribers while HBO Max, Hulu, Disney+, Netflix and Apple TV+ saw their shares drop as compared to the first quarter of 2021.
Kantar said that Netflix’s share of SVOD enabled households is at its lowest, down to 67% from 74% in the second quarter of 2020, which the company attributed in part to titles like Disney+’s “WandaVision,” Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” and HBO’s “Mare of Easttown” claiming the top spots for most popular streaming series.
“Although share of the market outranks the competition, the saturation of the U.S. VOD market may be resulting in Netflix subscribers trading the service in for a newer model,” the company wrote. “Whereas Disney+, Hulu and HBO Max take the top spots for content this quarter, Netflix comes in fourth and fifth position with ‘The Crown’ and ‘Lucifer.’ This is the first time they have missed out on a top three spot for content enjoyed for at least the past 5 quarters.”