2021 was a record growth year for the premium SVOD category. Services actively used major tentpole programming and price promotions as two of the primary levers to drive acquisition, Antenna noted in its latest study, entitled “Year in Streaming Report”.
Fox example, the Super Bowl, which has long been the most-watched event every year on linear television, in 2021 was also the king of streaming. Antenna found that CBS All Access (since re-launched as Paramount+) garnered over 750.000 sign-ups on Super Bowl Sunday (February 7, 2021), making it the biggest day of user acquisition for any service in the year.
In the wake of Covid lockdowns, several media companies experimented with moving major feature films originally slated for exclusive theatrical releases to their streaming services. Those films, including “Godzilla vs. Kong,” “Mortal Kombat,” “The Boss Baby: Family Business,” “PAW Patrol: The Movie,” “Cry Macho,” and “Halloween Kills,” were major drivers of user acquisition to their respective services.
When it comes specifically to platforms, Antenna data indicates that Paramount+ earned 26.6 million sign-ups in 2021 - the greatest amount in the category. Almost 5 million of those total sign-ups to the service took place around major content moments.
Meanwhile, Peacock saw the greatest share - nearly one in four - of its 2021 sign-ups to have taken place around major content moments. In addition to the titles noted on the “Daily Sign-ups” chart, Peacock saw upticks in sign-ups around moments such as “The Office” arriving to the platform, WWE events, and Premier League soccer.
● LIKE ITS LINEAR PREDECESSOR, PREMIUM SVOD CAN BE A HITS-DRIVEN BUSINESS
As the premium SVOD category became more competitive in 2021, services employed tactics like free trials and price promotions in an effort to welcome new users to their platform. In fact, the popularity of free trials was quite consistent year-over-year, with the number of trial sign-ups increasing from 60.4 million to 61.0 million.
However, the top-line numbers do not tell the full story, as Disney+ and HBO Max both did not offer free trials in 2021. Disney+ removed its free trial ahead of “Hamilton's” July 2020 release, and HBO Max turned off its free trial prior to “Wonder Woman 1984's” December 2020 premiere (with the exception of users who join via Hulu and YouTube TV add-ons).
The success of converting free trials to paid subscriptions improved +2.3 points. Discovery+ (81.4%) and Peacock (77.9%) had the highest trial conversion rates, and Starz (61.4%) was lowest in 2021.
Moreover, premium SVOD services increasingly used promotional offers to drive user acquisition. There were 8.4 million promotional price sign-ups in 2021, compared to just 3.3 million in 2020. Showtime was the most prevalent discounter, attracting nearly 20% of their 2021 sign-ups at a promotional price.
While promotional price sign-ups still make up a small portion of acquisition in the category, they were especially popular in the fourth quarter of 2021, accounting for over 13% of all sign-ups.
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