Two-thirds of streaming subscribers still have cable

The latest MTM report also finds SVOD subscribers watch more traditional TV, suggesting they use Netflix and Disney+ as supplements, not replacements.
By Patti Summerfield
September 6, 2022

Even though there have been questions about whether households would continue to carry the subscriptions they signed up for during the pandemic, now that they can leave the house more, SVOD services continue to be a major source of media content.

That’s according to the most recent Media Technology Monitor (MTM) report, which explored the use of subscription video on demand services (SVOD) of Anglophone adults.

Currently, 82% of Anglophone Canadians still subscribe to at least one SVOD service. Subscribers tend to watch around nine hours of streaming content per week, and are more likely to be more affluent, educated and younger.

Anglophones who subscribe to more services also tend to make the most of their subscriptions. Subscribers to four or more services watch 10.7 hours of streaming content each week. On the other hand, subscribers with just one service watch 4.6 hours of content each week.

The report also found that 68% of SVOD subscribers also subscribe to traditional TV services, such as cable, using these services to supplement a traditional paid TV service. During a typical week, SVOD subscribers also watch more than 10 hours of TV content on a TV set – more than the total average time spent with SVOD content.

Since its launch in 2019, Disney+ has joined Netflix and Amazon Prime as the top three streaming services in Canada. While the number of SVOD subscribers continues to grow, market leader Netflix may have reached a plateau: 71% of Anglophone adults, up from 64% in 2019. Crave was the fourth-most popular, but growth also seems to have plateaued there, having only grown from 22% to 25% since 2020.

On the other hand, subscriptions to Disney+ have grown from 24% of households to 36% in less than two years, a greater growth than any other service during this time period.

Four in five Anglophones subscribe to two or more services, with most subscribers having Netflix (59%) plus one other service. However, one third of SVOD subscribers say that if they need to scale back their subscriptions, they would cut Amazon Prime Video first. This was followed by Disney+ (18%), Crave (17%) and Netflix (15%). In addition, 43% of respondents also share one or more of their accounts with another household and this could also act as a way to cut costs.