Julia Stoll
Research expert covering TV and video media
Transactional video-on-demand in the United States - statistics & facts
The transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) market has celebrated a comeback during the coronavirus pandemic. With movie theaters closed and people staying at home, this revenue model, in which viewers pay for each content title such as much-awaited blockbuster films, TV show episodes, and sporting events, has benefited from premium first-run movies and shortened theatrical windows. Major studios have made their movies available on streaming services earlier than usual, a move which has clearly appealed to consumers. The penetration rate of pay-per-view jumped from 23.9 percent in 2019 to 29 percent as of 2021 in the United States, which is the largest TVOD market worldwide. Furthermore, a forecast suggested that the user share in the country will continue to grow after a dip in the penetration rate in 2022.
TVOD’s subcategories and how they are developing
The TVOD market can be roughly divided into two subcategories, electronic sell-through (EST) and download to rent (DTR). In the United States, EST, which gives consumers permanent access to the purchased copy of a title, is the most valuable segment among the two. In 2022, the division generated around 2.5 billion U.S. dollars, whereas the revenue of rentals, including both digital and physical rentals, amounted to 2.2 billion dollars that year. Meanwhile, a 2022 survey on premium transactions (PVOD) – a business model where consumers have early access to theatrical movies on VOD services – demonstrates the continued significance of straight-to-streaming premieres. The share of U.S. adults who would prefer to watch newly released movies online was higher than the share of respondents who would watch at a movie theater.Major TVOD platforms
Subscription-based services such as Disney+ and HBO Max have benefited the most from the success of premium content titles, boosting their subscriber base rapidly. A survey among Americans and Canadians, for example, found that Disney+ Premier Access was the second most popular TVOD service as of the second quarter of 2022, after pay-per-view veteran Amazon. Other digital retailers in the North American region include YouTube Movies & Shows, iTunes, Google Play Movies & TV, Vudu, and Redbox. The latter was acquired by Crackle owner Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment in mid-2022. Furthermore, Redbox made headlines in 2021 creating a “one-stop-shop” where customers can buy and rent titles and watch ad-supported content as well as free and live TV channels and SVOD all on one platform. With this program and Chicken Soup's own offering of video and TV streaming platforms, the company could compete with other services in the market, and with Amazon in particular, which provides its users with the same offering.
