Analysis of the actual utilization of video content in 2022: Survey on awareness of ad-supported SVOD - 35.6% are interested, but only 3.2% "want to subscribe"; Concern is limited viewing time

Tokyo, December 9th, 2022 - GEM Partners has published a report called "Video on demand / Broadcast / Physical home video market user analysis report in Japan (Surveyed in November 2022)" an analysis report on the actual usage of video content.

In this year's report, we conducted an additional survey on recognition of "ad-supported plan in SVOD," which are gaining attention as a new form of VOD service. This service is a plan that allows users to use SVOD at a lower price than usual by watching advertisements before or during viewing content. The survey assumed that SVOD services in general would be introduced, rather than on a specific plan for a specific service. This release contains excerpts from the report on consumer recognition of the plan, subscription intentions, and acceptable restrictions.

44.8% of all consumers said they are aware of ad-supported SVOD
When narrowed down to SVOD users, more than half (52.9%) are aware of it.

After providing an overview of "ad-supported plan in SVOD," men and women aged 15-69 living in Japan were asked to choose between "Recognition" and "Non recognition" about this service. The results showed that 44.8% of all respondents answered "Recognition," slightly less than half of the total respondents. When the respondents were narrowed down to regular SVOD users, the number of those aware of the service increased to 52.9%, more than half of the respondents. On the other hand, for Non SVOD users who do not use SVOD, the percentage of those aware of the service was 39.9%.

35.6% of all consumers are interested in ad-supported Plan in SVOD
The intention to subscribe was recorded at 3.2%.

The survey asked respondents, regardless of whether they were aware or unaware of "ad-supported plan in SVOD," to indicate their intention to subscribe to the service on a five-point scale of "Not interested/No intention to subscribe," "Interested but not likely to check," "Interested and plan to check it," "Wish to subscribe" or "Currently enrolled”. Excluding subscribers, 35.6% of the total respondents answered "interested", while only 3.2% answered " Wish to subscribe”. Since "Interested and plan to check it" group recorded 14.7%, suggesting that they are still waiting to see what the new service format will be like.

When the target group was narrowed down to SVOD users, 51.0% of the respondents were "interested," more than half, while only 26.1% of Non SVOD users were "interested".

Top 3 acceptable limitations: no downloading, reduced number of devices for simultaneous viewing, 5 minutes of advertising per hour.
Top 3 unacceptable limitations: limited viewing time, poor picture quality, inability to view some content.

In a survey of subscription intention in the All segment of "ad-supported plan in SVOD," a survey of acceptable restrictions was conducted for the <interested group> and the "currently subscribed" group. Respondents were asked to select from "acceptable," "unacceptable" or "neither" regarding their level of acceptance of the above 11 items.

The top "acceptable" responses were "Downloading (offline playback) is not possible.," "Reduced number of simultaneous viewing devices in a single contract.," and "Ads come in about 5 minutes per hour.". On the other hand, the top "unacceptable" responses were "Limited viewing time per day.," "The quality of the image is degraded.," and "Some content cannot be viewed”. Even when the survey was narrowed down to SVOD and Non SVOD users, the most common "unacceptable" response was "Limited viewing time per day.”. This indicates that consumers are sensitive to restrictions on viewing time.

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As mentioned above, the "Video on demand / Broadcast / Physical home video market user analysis report in Japan (Surveyed in November 2022)" provides a wide variety of data, including analysis across contract types and media type, actual usage by category, brand penetration by individual service, and in-depth analysis of usage by video on demand service. We hope you will find it useful in understanding and analyzing the home entertainment market as a whole.

Report specification
Product name: Video on demand / Broadcast / Physical home video market user analysis report in Japan (Surveyed in November 2022)
Survey method : Internet survey
Survey target :Male/female of ages between 15 and 69 who are living in Japan
The number of respondents : 19,634
Published Date: December 09, 2022
Survey date : Saturday, November 5, 2022 to Wednesday, November 9, 2022
Language: English / Japanese
Deliverable Option: Report (PDF), Aggregate tools *(optional extra: Tableau, Excel)