By Saul Gunn

News of the rapid growth of SVoD (Subscription Video on Demand, in case you’ve ever wondered) services amidst the lockdown has become commonplace across the mediascape during the last few months. As we’re painfully aware, people across the world have been unable to leave the confines of their homes in an effort to stymie the spread of COVID-19, which has left many filling their time with copious amounts of film, television and other video content. Indeed, this factor has boosted the growth rates of many major SVoD services. 

The subscriber count for the recently launched Disney Plus stood at a mind-blowing 54.5 million just 6 months after it launched. Indeed, that Disney has nearly hit their target of reaching between 60 and 90 million subscribers by the end of fiscal 2024 in a matter of months rather than years makes their subscriber growth all the more impressive.  

Meanwhile other SVoD behemoths have also enjoyed significant boosts to their membership, Netflix for example more than doubling their expected growth in the first quarter of 2020 with nearly 16 million new additions to their membership base.  

However, massive growth rates in the SVoD market have not been restricted to just the big players. Reports have highlighted that a plethora of more niche services have also experienced massive growth rates that they attribute to the lockdown. Many of these you may never have heard of, but Pantaya and MHz Choice are just two examples of many claiming to have doubled their subscriber count since COVID-19’s onset. 

What may be of more interest, however, especially to the British TV lovers among us, are the services Acorn TV and BritBox.

Acorn TV happens to be an American-owned SVoD service, but primarily offers a vast degree of British programming - particularly in the genres of crime and period dramas. The service licenses hits such as Foyle’s War, and exhibits an array of original content with British production and storylines including the recent London Kills. Claiming 1 million subscribers in the United States at the end of February, parent company AMC Networks recently reported that subscriptions across its entire SVoD collection, which includes the likes of Sundance Now, Shudder and UMC Urban Movie Channel, increased significantly over lockdown. Since Acorn TV was launched in the UK for £4.99 a month at the end of April, this figure seems set to grow even further.  

BritBox, on the other hand, offers a much more diverse and numerous catalogue of British treasures. From comedies such as The Inbetweeners, to award-winning dramas such as Downton Abbey, to guilty pleasures such as Love Island, the range of British content offered by BritBox service is hefty – and all for £5.99 a month. This service, too, apparently witnessed a surge in subscriptions over the lockdown period. Just as with Acorn TV, BritBox also boasts over 1 million subscribers in North America and was recently unveiled in the UK which, due to the salience to British TV lovers of many of the programmes the service showcases, is a figure that is sure to grow. 

Indeed, reports speculate that with the two services’ recent entrance to the UK the stage is set for a battle for the UK’s streaming customers, with many media outlets pitching the virtues of each service against one another to evaluate which service would be the best bang for your buck - or, in this case, pound. 

The major difference between these two burgeoning services is that Acorn TV produces some original programming, whereas BritBox, thus far, hasn’t to any significant degree. 

BritBox was created by ITV and the BBC and appears to have focused on providing a large collection of the content already produced by these companies and others rather than producing its own. For example, Channel 4 has signed a multi-year partnership deal with BritBox. This approach seems to parallel the strategy of Disney Plus, whose huge repertoire of programming speaks for itself. 

The wealth and variety of content on BritBox seems on the surface a more attractive offering than the likes of Acorn TV but reports suggest that both services have a similar number of subscribers.

This suggests the importance of original content in the business strategies of SVoD services, a component realised by the likes of Netflix early on with the production of programmes such as House of Cards. At a larger level, SVoD services can generate hype and a ‘fear of missing out’ factor, by exhibiting large productions exclusively on their platforms. One of the best ways to do this is through original programming. Take Tiger King, a frequent talking point of boozy Zoom calls over the lockdown period and a cited driver of Netflix’s first quarter growth. Without a Netflix membership, one could feel estranged from the conversation or viewing experience that blazed across social media. This, in turn, could have prompted huge numbers of people to sign up for the leading SVoD service. 

Whether original programming can generate this mass effect and appeal for smaller, more-niche SVoD services remains to be seen. Neither BritBox or Acorn TV have deep enough pockets to keep up with the rate of original content that Netflix churns out, with figures well into the billions reportedly being assigned each year to its content development - an investment Netflix sees as key to maintaining its advantage in the so-called ‘streaming wars’. 

However, the production of original content by smaller SVoD services can help to forge an identity and a USP for services in a market that has the potential to become saturated given the number of new entrants and huge array of services available to sign up to. Indeed, surveys indicate that the number of services limits most consumers from signing up to no more than 3 to 4 SVoD services, and it is for a space in this shortlist that the likes of BritBox and Acorn TV need to compete. 

If the way to compete is through original programming however, these services are immediately at the mercy of the very pandemic that initially inflated their growth, as all video production companies will have to traverse the hazardous conditions of social distancing and other COVID-19 related complications to produce content – a potentially gloomy outlook.

In the meantime, these niche services may have to explore new, innovative methods to maintain or add to the growth that they have achieved so far.