The consumption of at-home media and entertainment thrived amid the coronavirus pandemic, but the total shutdown of live events and the pause on film and TV production will cause digital ad spending to decline in 2020.

Lastly, following its acquisition of the Quibi and “This Old House” libraries, Roku signed an exclusive deal with Saban Films to stream its movies on The Roku Channel three months after they appear in theaters. These moves show that, for a growing number of streaming services, original content production is becoming essential. Read Next.

Amazon could be looking to expand that initiative after its recent purchase of film studio MGM, which it bought for a cool $8.45 billion. (The Federal Trade Commission is apparently looking into the acquisition, per The Verge.).

Amazon is reportedly looking to acquire legacy film and TV studio MGM to the tune of $7 billion to $10 billion, The Information reports. Media and entertainment consolidation seems to be the hottest trend this spring, as the news comes directly on the heels of WarnerMedia and Discovery announcing their merger earlier this week.

Media and entertainment companies are increasing their digital ad spend at a greater rate than other verticals as revenues surge in the music and film industries and digital video and gaming platforms try to outcompete one another.

By contrast, the share of internet users who watched TV or films via subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services rocketed between H1 2019 and H1 2020, from 57.1% to 68.3%. In total, nearly 89% of respondents in Turkey had streamed free or paid-for TV, film, or other video content in the prior month, GlobalWebIndex reported.

But the typical 90-day theatrical run will be shortened to just 45 days, after which the films will be available on HBO Max. ViacomCBS opted for a similar move, with movies getting between 30 and 45 days in theaters before hitting Paramount+.

The share of UK respondents viewing TV, films, or other video content via subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services like Netflix or Amazon Prime Video also remains among the higher values recorded globally at 75.3%. Younger people were also in the lead here; 92.5% of internet users ages 16 to 24 had watched SVOD in the previous month.

In H1 2020, 62.3% of internet users polled had used SVOD to watch TV programs, films, and other video content in the previous month, compared with 56.2% in H1 2019. Thanks to the expansion of time-shifted and digital viewing options, overall adoption of video-on-demand (VOD) stood at 84.0% of internet users in H1 2020. Respondents spent a daily average of 1:14 with online TV/streaming options.

More than 45% of those polled in H1 2020 said they had watched TV shows, films, or other video content from such a service in the month prior, compared with 35.9% in H1 2019. Admittedly, SVOD consumption lags far behind the level of video viewing overall. Some 70.8% of internet users had streamed video content of some kind in the previous month.

In H1 2020, 61.2% of internet users polled had used SVOD to watch TV programs, films, or other video content in the previous month. That was roughly equivalent to the shares in France and Romania (61.6% and 60.5%, respectively) but well below the reach of SVOD in many other countries surveyed, including Canada (76.2%) and Ireland (79.2%).

Moreover, 76.8% of respondents polled in H1 2020 watched films or TV shows via subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services such as Netflix—a sizable gain compared with 70.6% last year. Increases in video viewing were doubtless fueled, at least in part, by several periods of lockdown beginning in late March 2020.

More than two-thirds (67.9%) of respondents polled in H1 2020 had used TV broadcasters’ catch-up or on-demand services in the prior month—a small increase since H1 2019—and 69.9% had watched TV programs, films, or other video content via subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services like Netflix.

But there was a substantial gain in the share who had accessed TV shows, films, or other content from SVOD providers, such as Netflix, to 48.5%. As of H1 2020, 37.0% of Hong Kong respondents had invested in a smart TV; again, this value was lower than in H1 2019. Ownership remained much greater in the most affluent homes as well.

Over 61% of respondents watched TV or film content via subscription VOD (SVOD) services such as Netflix or CatchPlay—a smaller share than last year. Indonesia was one of the few countries where penetration of SVOD was lower in H1 2020 than a year prior. Nonetheless, smart TV ownership was up, reaching 25.0% of internet users this year. That said, adults 35 and older were more likely to own a smart TV.

Crucially, the share of internet users who watched films or TV shows via subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services, such as Netflix or HBO Go, in the prior month rose to 90.4%—surpassing the reach of live TV for the first time. Mexico was the only country where that switch took place this year, per GlobalWebIndex. Smart TV ownership was also high by global standards, at 56.3%.

“Additionally, podcast production is quicker and cheaper than that of TV and video, which has enabled listeners to get a constant flow of fresh content, something that became a stumbling block for the TV and film industries throughout 2020.”.

In October, Disney announced that it was reorganizing its film and TV divisions to focus on streaming. A month later, it announced that Disney+ obtained 73.7 million subscribers during its first year. Other large media companies like ViacomCBS and WarnerMedia recently stated that they would reorganize themselves to prioritize streaming.

., Kuaishou’s arthouse film channel, “Heartwarming Cinema,” which launched in time for the Lunar New Year). As for social media, besides household names WeChat and Weibo, more recently, we have seen the rise of beauty-focused Xiaohongshu and video-sharing platform Bilibili, which is popular among Gen Zers and known for its anime content, though it has been diversifying.