NEW YORK — The number of digital video viewers in Canada will reach 28 million by next year, a million more than previously forecast, according to a new report from eMarketer’s Insider Intelligence.
“Nearly 18 months of restricted public gatherings have led to more time at home and a strong appetite for long-form entertainment. Increasingly, that demand is being met by video delivered via the internet and apps,” writes Paul Briggs, the report’s author, in an article published on eMarketer’s website earlier this week.
While YouTube tops the list for viewership in Canada, subscription OTT services, led by Netflix, account for most of the growth in digital video viewership, according to Briggs.
“YouTube is by far the most used digital video platform in Canada, with 25.8 million viewers this year. This is a reflection of the platform’s versatility with short clips and long-form content for everything under the sun, including entertainment, news, and tutorials,” Briggs writes.
Subscription OTT services have fewer viewers than YouTube “because they focus solely on entertainment. Additionally, there’s greater competition for eyeballs among these platforms.”
According to Briggs, “there will be 23.8 million subscription OTT viewers in Canada this year, which is up 4.1% year over year (YoY) and on top of a whopping 14.9% growth rate in 2020. The result is 1.7 million more viewers than we previously forecast.”
(Please see the chart above for eMarketer’s forecast for the number of subscription OTT video service users in Canada through 2025.)
Netflix is the most popular OTT service in Canada, with 18.6 million viewers, representing a 2.9% increase over last year, according to eMarketer’s report.
Amazon Prime Video viewers in Canada will total 12.2 million this year, up 14.3% YoY, the report says.
As for domestic video services such as Bell Media’s Crave and Videotron’s Club illico, they “have gained committed audiences but don’t rival the numbers from international services,” Briggs writes.
eMarketer’s first forecast for Crave estimates the streaming service will have 6.8 million viewers in 2021 and will reach 7.3 million viewers by 2025.
To access the full report, please click here.
Chart image borrowed from eMarketer’s website here.
