A new report from WPP Media has found that YouTube Premium ranks among the top five paid streaming services in Central and Eastern Europe, reaching a base that exceeds or comes close to Disney+.
The findings come from ViewTube CEE, a new WPP Media study. The most likely consumers to sign up for the service are parents of young children, young viewers, and music fans. The gains made by YouTube Premium come as the traditional SVOD services in the region open up to advertising to drive revenues in the region, clearing the path for more collaborations with pay-TV services and telcos.
Across Poland, Czechia, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Serbia and Croatia, between 8% and 18% of internet users pay for or share a subscription to YouTube Premium. In Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary, the service has a similar reach to Disney+, while in Croatia and Serbia, YouTube Premium ranks among the top three paid video platforms.
The leading content category is music and music videos, although other genres are popular, including entertainment and how-to programs, documentaries, podcasts, and news content. In some markets, films also fare well. Within the 16 to 24 demo, content from online creators, vlogs, and gaming is key.
An ad-free experience tops the reasons for subscribing. Access to YouTube Music Premium is also a primary subscription driver.
The subscriber demo is largely those under 34, particularly parents of children under six, who subscribe to YouTube Premium at around twice the average rate.
“YouTube Premium is a different category from traditional SVOD platforms, but it competes for the same valuable currencies in the video market: viewers’ time and money,” said Izabela Albrychiewicz, WPP market manager for CSEE and CEO of WPP Media CSEE. “Although they are buying something different on YouTube than on Netflix or HBO Max, they are willing to pay, and YouTube Premium’s place among the top five demonstrates the platform’s strong position. From advertisers’ perspective, however, this means reduced reach for traditional advertising campaigns on YouTube among attractive demographic groups.”
The WPP Media study also points to an increasingly close “frenemy” relationship between SVOD platforms and pay-TV and telco services. Between 14% (Croatia) and 38% (Serbia) of SVOD customers purchase streaming platform subscriptions through pay-TV operators, while between 12% (Romania) and 34% (Croatia) purchase access to paid streaming through telcos.
Pay TV remains fairly healthy in CEE, WPP says. SVOD growth is slowing; of note, in Poland, the number of paid streaming platform customers did not increase over the past year. The average number of subscriptions per person has leveled off at 2.2.
“Platforms are looking for additional revenue sources and opening up to advertising, as Netflix and Disney+ are doing. For marketers, this means access to high-quality inventory that was previously locked firmly behind paywalls,” Albrychiewicz adds.
