In 2023, paid VOD services sales to Polish households increased significantly, reached 65%, outrunning paid TV services.The household base is largely made up of those who use someone else's subscription. Account sharing is a very popular way to optimize customer costs, but it's clearly detrimental to streaming platforms' revenues. In 2023, Netflix restricted account sharing and it was beneficial for the company, which gained a significant number of subscribers. Disney has made similar moves.

According to PMR, technological development, the remarkable growth of fast internet connections in our country, has become an important factor in the increasing popularity of VOD services in Poland. This increase is also due to a change in consumer preferences. More and more people appreciate the possibility of watching films and series on demand.

According to PMR, Netflix will not lose its leading position in the coming years, but its dominance on the market will decrease. Competition from other platforms will put more and more pressure on the streaming giant. In 2023, SkyShowtime launches and gains several hundred thousand subscriptions in a relatively short time. In June 2024, the Max platform (formerly HBO Max) was relaunched in Poland after being rebranded. Warner Bros. Discovery, owner of Max, has in its strategy a plan to fully connect Max and premium content Player.pl. Player.pl will be transformed into AVOD (with advertising), which should bring more viewers, offering them free access to the content in return for advertising time.

Combining these two offers gives the company an advantage - some consumers see too many services as a disadvantage of SVOD platforms. Consolidating the offer could be a very attractive solution, giving customers access to interesting, varied content in one place, and that's what customers are really looking for.

On the other hand, the fragmentation of content on the market leads to a rotation of users between platforms. People switch SVOD service providers from time to time to watch what they want and then move to another platform. People pay for a few months' subscription to watch new seasons of their favorite series or premiere movies, then they cancel for a period of time and go to another platform. This 'circle' practice is a common thing, especially among the younger generations.

Recently, the media has often talked about the plans of streaming platforms (e.g. Netflix), describing ideas to introduce cheaper ad-supported options on the Polish market. According to the latest PMR study, conducted in mid-2024, almost a quarter of Poles would be interested in such an offer. Slightly more than half of VOD users wouldn't agree to watch ads and pay a lower price, preferring to pay more for the ad-free option. The remaining 25% are undecided and willing to consider all options.

The theme of increasing demand for well-organized, clean and uncluttered SVOD services is coming back like a boomerang. Streaming is taking over cable and satellite TV customers every day. There's not much time left for old-school TV entertainment. Soon TV channels will only be available as part of the content on streaming platforms.  People want the whole package: movies, series, sports, news, and so on and so forth. It's going to be so much easier to find what you really want or need to watch. And as we can see, most customers are willing to pay more to get rid of annoying ads.

Is there anyone who hasn't been annoyed when the most interesting scene in the best film of the year was ruined by a commercial to sell you the whitest toothpaste you've ever seen or the greatest glue ever created that can even mend a broken heart? I don't think so.

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