While major premium streaming video services saw increases in usage in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and have fallen slightly since, some mid-level services -- Apple TV+, CBS All Access, HBO Now, and Showtime -- continue to show gains or remain steady.
A new study that analyzes the March, April and May periods finds that Apple TV+ grew to 19% in the month of May (from 15% in April and 11% in March) when respondents were asked which premium services they used. The research comes from Strategy Analytics.
CBS All Access also continues to see increases -- to 12% in May (from 9% in April and 7% in March).
Others including HBO Now (transitioned now to HBO Max) and Showtime have maintained share numbers, with HBO Now at 13% in May (13% in April and 8% in March); Showtime, 7% in May (7% in April and 5% in March). Starz was at 5% in May (5% in April and 3% in March)
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Bigger, more widely used and distributed services -- Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Disney+ -- all slipped over this period. Netflix was down 42% in May (from 50% in April), while Amazon Prime Video slipped to 40% in May (42% in April); Hulu declined 24% (from 30%) and Disney+ was down 18% (from 23%).
Strategy Analytics says the lifting of stay-at-home orders in recent weeks was a major reason for the declines.
Research in the U.S. were fielded from a nationally representative sample of people 18 years and older among more than 4,000 U.S. adults online March 21-22 (sample size, 1,444); April 21-22 (1,220); and May 22-24 (1,270)