Evidence suggests that consumers are accessing streaming video content on their smartphones in greater numbers than ever before, despite mobile user behavior starting to normalize after the dramatic movements seen in early 2020.
New data from Sensor Tower Usage Intelligence found the top mobile subscription video on demand (SVOD) apps in the U.S. had an average of around 18 million monthly active users in the first quarter of 2022, up 14% and 49% from the first quarters of 2020 and 2019, respectively. Figures from the first quarter of 2021 were not readily available.
In the first quarter of this year, the top three most-used mobile SVOD apps in the United States were Netflix, Hulu and Disney+, according to Sensor Tower Usage Intelligence’s data.
Meanwhile, HBO Max had the best quarter on the U.S. app store for any SVOD app since Disney+’s launch in late 2019, passing Netflix for only the second time.
In addition, the introduction of popular new platforms like Disney+, Peacock TV and Discovery+ contributed to the increase in average monthly active users seen by leading SVOD apps in the fourth quarter of 2019 and over the previous two years. The arrival of these new content providers, as well as improved content offerings by existing platforms, has resulted in a sustained upward trend in monthly average users.