In the SVOD space, Amazon Prime Video maintained market leadership, ending 2022 with more than 16 million customers, but its annual growth has slowed. Netflix ended with 7.2 million customers and around 15% market share. Disney+ grew in the second half of 2022 from a relatively low base, reaching almost 3.4 million subs at year-end with its kids franchises driving viewership. Its local horror series “Gannibal” made a strong debut in Dec. 2022.
“Leading local players include U-Next whose viewership is driven by Japanese anime, Asian dramas, and adult content. Having, U-Next will overtake local SVOD leader Hulu Japan in subscriptions with an estimated 3.7 million subs as of end 2022, including Paravi,” MPA said. “The opportunity going forward for the SVOD category in particular is to elevate the quality of live action content alongside continued investment in licensing popular anime,” the analysts said.
“Licensed local non-anime content contributed a quarter of first-title demand on Amazon Prime Video and Netflix in 2022 while the contribution of local originals to first title demand is starting to grow, especially on Netflix, with releases such as ‘First Love,’ ‘JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’ and ‘Alice in Borderland S2’,” said lead analyst and head of content insights Dhivya T.
In 2022, anime led content categories with 45% of measured premium video viewership. Japanese live action came in second, accounting for 22% and 33% of premium category and SVOD first title consumption, respectively, while U.S. content trended at 16% and 13%, respectively, with Korean content at 12% and 17%, driving customer acquisition most notably on Netflix, followed by Disney+,” the report said.