Parrot Analytics SVOD platform trend reports reveal which SVOD’s digital original series are appealing most to audiences in a market during these three months, dive deeper into how this looks for the dynamic action and adventure genre and shed light on the overall size of digital original series within the entire market.

The key questions investigated in this report:

1. Are Canadian audiences demanding more linear or more digital content?
2. Which SVOD’s original series are demanded most by Canadian audiences and how is this evolving?
3. In the Action and Adventure genre, which SVOD’s original series are demanded most by Canadian audiences and how is this evolving?

Are Canadian audiences demanding more linear or digital content?

• From February 1st to April 30th 2020, 85.8% of all demand expressed by Canadian audiences is for a series from a linear broadcast, cable or satellite network.
• 14.2% of all demand was for a digital original series from local or global streaming platforms. The demand for digital originals outperforms their title share of 13.4%.
• However, the demand share of digital originals in Canada is lower than the global average of 16.6%. This indicates the global SVOD platforms are facing strong competition from Canadian networks.

Which SVOD’s original series are most in-demand by Canadian audiences?

• Across all digital original series in Canada, Netflix originals account for the largest share of demand over the three months. Netflix series have a 48.4% share of the digital original market.
• However, this share is significantly below the global Netflix average share of 57.1%. Canadian attention is going to Hulu, CBS All Access and Disney+, all of which have higher demand shares in this market than they do globally.
• The increased share for Disney+ may be due to Canada being one of the original Disney+ launch markets in November 2019, giving consumers here more time to develop an interest relative to other markets.

The next chart shows how the demand shares for these five platforms have evolved over the past 12 months:

• In the past three months, the demand shares for digital original series in Canada has been largely stable.
• The demand share for originals from Hulu increased by 2.9% from February to April. Little Fires Everywhere and Devs were some of the titles driving this change.
• Over the 12 months, the Disney+ launch in November had the largest impact on Canadian demand shares. However, from a peak of 8.4% the Disney+ demand share has dropped to 5.5% in April 2020.

Which SVOD’s Action and Adventure original series are demanded most by Canadian audiences?

• Titles from DC Universe have the highest share of demand in the action and adventure genre with 24.7%. The Canadian demand share is in line with the platform’s global appeal of 27.3%.
• CBS All Access and Disney+ both have around 5-point higher demand shares in Canada compared to their global shares. Canadian audiences often express high demand for sci-fi series and both services catered for this with Star Trek: Picard and The Mandalorian respectively.
• Netflix has the second highest share with 23.7%, but the platform’s Canadian share is low compared to global share of 34.2%. Again, the platform’s sci-fi series like Altered Carbon were highly demanded.

The next chart shows how the action and adventure demand shares for these five platforms have evolved over the past 12 months:

• In 2020 so far, the Canadian demand share for CBS All Access original action and adventure series has been growing. From 2.1% in December 2019, the share reached 15.9% in March 2020.
• The trend also shows the DC Universe share seems to have stabilized around 25% in recent months. While it has lost share over the 12 months in the face of increased competition, the platform’s titles still have the largest share of this genre.
• As it did in the overall chart, Disney+ had a strong launch in this genre but has since lost some momentum. From a high point of 32.3% in December 2019 the platform’s share is down to 16.5% in April 2020.

This report is intended as a high-level overview of the SVOD market in this country. To access more granular platform demand trends for specific platforms, genres, timeframes and more, contact your Parrot Analytics representative to discuss the Analyse tier.

For more information, check out the most up-to-date Canada television industry overview.