Consumers are set to spend $202bn next year, an increase of 10 per cent on this year’s total of $184bn, with subscription video on demand (SVoD) services driving growth.

35 per cent of UK households now subscribe to one or more SVoD services, this rises by more than double to a huge 76 per cent of households in the US, according to digital analysts Juniper Research.

The number of households that subscribe SVoD services will continue to rise due to major players such as Netflix and Amazon investing billions in original content over the next year. Add to that the major investments being made by Apple and Facebook then it’s clear what is driving the ever-growing spend in digital content.

In addition, as the likes of Amazon and Facebook capture the rights to more sporting events, there will be even more reason for consumers to opt for SVoD services, especially if one of the two tech giants pick up one of the major live rights packages to the English Premier League.

“Amazon is in a particularly strong position here, because sports packages could be bundled within Amazon Prime, with the additional retail spend generated by new customers significantly reducing the scale of net additions required to recoup the rights costs,” said research author Dr Windsor Holden.

The research also found that eSports is presenting the next opportunity for telcos and over-the-top players as they seek to acquire the rights to eSports events.

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