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 South African audiences demanding more linear or more digital content?

2. Which SVOD’s original series are demanded most by South African audiences and how is this evolving?

3. In the Action and Adventure genre, which SVOD’s original series are demanded most by South African audiences and how is this evolving?

Are South African audiences demanding more linear or digital content?

• Between June and August 2020, 15.4% of all demand expressed in South Africa is for a digital original series. Most of the demand, 84.6%, is expressed for a linear series.

• Compared to global audiences, South African audiences demand linear series more. The worldwide average share for linear titles in this period is 82.2%.

• However, on a per-title basis, digital originals overperform. They make up 13.6% of series in the market by number yet account for 15.4% of demand.

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

• Out of the five streaming platforms with the highest South African demand for their original series, Netflix dominates the market. 61.2% of all demand expressed for digital original series between June and August is for a Netflix title. South Africa’s most in-demand Netflix original for these months is 13 Reasons Why.

• With a 61.2% share, Netflix overperforms in this market compared to global averages. Worldwide, the Netflix demand share is 56.9%.

• Relatively new streaming platform Apple TV+ has secured a foothold with South African audiences. Apple TV+ originals account for 4.4% of digital original demand, half a percent more than their global share of 3.9%.

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

• The 12-month demand share chart shows how solid Netflix’s position within the market is. After consistently gaining share in early 2020, the Netflix share has been very consistent throughout the year to date.

• This early 2020 demand share increase for Netflix mostly impacted the share for streaming platforms outside of the five largest. This dropped from 17.2% to 14.5% from February to March.

• The Apple TV+ demand share has also declined over time, from the launch high of 5.2% in December 2019. Apple TV+’s most demanded show in South Africa is Defending Jacob.

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

• In the competitive action and adventure genre for digital original series, Netflix titles have this largest share of demand. At 39.2% of the market segment this is considerably smaller than Netflix’s overall market share of 61.2%.

• Originals from DC Universe remain a strong draw to South African audiences. These titles have the second highest share of demand with 32.1%.

• The South African demand shares in this genre are largely aligned with the global shares. The exception is the share for Amazon Prime Video, which has a 11.4% demand share of action and adventure originals against a global share of 14.6%.

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

• The evolution of South African digital original action and adventure demand shares over the past 12 months shows recent changes. In the most recent three months, the Netflix share increases from 29.9% in June to 45.0% in August. A significant amount of this demand increase is due to the release of The Umbrella Academy Season 2 on July 31st.

• Disney+ has not maintained the share in this genre that it gained at launch in October 2019. From a high point of 26.1% in December 2019, the service’s originals ended August 2020 with 6.1%.

• The Amazon Prime Video share of demand is increasing in the most recent three months, increasing +3.3% from June to August 2020. Demonstrating the importance of tentpole series in this high-profile genre, pre-release demand for the release of The Boys Season 2 in September seems to be playing an important role in this trend.

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.