A man and woman eat popcorn while watching TV
A growing number of households in the Netherlands have two or three subscriptions to video streaming services. Also, for the first time, a small majority of households, 51 percent, have at least one subscription. This is evident from figures from market researcher Telecompaper for the first quarter of this year.
Netflix remains by far the most popular among consumers. At a considerable distance, but in second place, the Dutch Videoland follows. The video platform is investing heavily in its own, local content.
Grow Amazon Prime Video
The fastest growing is Amazon Prime Video, which has more than doubled its market share. The video platform is part of the Prime discount bundle. Amazon also has big plans with its video service: it recently bought film studio MGM, known for the James Bond films, among other things, for almost 7 billion euros.
The five largest video services in the Netherlands:
“They’re all fighting for the viewer’s favor,” said Tim Wijkman, analyst at Telecompaper. The big question, he points out, is how many subscriptions people want. A question that the market researcher cannot answer for the time being, but which they will look into.
The effects of corona can also be seen in this report for the first quarter of this year. In the same period last year, 56 percent had no subscription, but this group has now decreased by 7 percentage points. “We are now also seeing the growing demand for video services cautiously at the expense of TV connections,” says Wijkman.
A small majority of households now have at least a subscription:
The choice has grown since 2019 and it is expected that the range will be further expanded. This includes American services HBO Max (WarnerMedia), Paramount+ (CBS) and Peacock (NBC). It is not yet clear whether and when these platforms will also be available to Dutch viewers.
In addition, it also raises the question of how long all these services will continue to exist independently of each other. Is there so much room in the market? There is a chance that consolidation will occur at some point: players merging or taking over other parties. An example of this is WarnerMedia: until recently, that company was owned by telecom giant AT&T and is now merging with Discovery.
Switch shifts
“There is a chance that people will soon change shifts more often,” says Wijkman. “Then Netflix has a nice series again and the next month you switch to Amazon.” As a result, mutual competition increases, as does the supply.
The trick is to win over the viewer. And that requires content. For example, Netflix has been pumping billions of dollars into the production of its own films and series for years. Disney+ announced at the end of last year that it would make many more Marvel and Star Wars series, but also increased the prices of the subscription.
Netflix also tries to bind viewers in other ways, for example in the period between the release of seasons of series. Bloomberg wrote Monday that the video platform is emphatically betting on products related to certain films and series. This is how it works on a clothing line and events around the costume drama Bridgerton. It also looks at the production of podcasts and games.
