The U.K. Now Has More SVOD Than Pay TV Subscriptions: Ofcom
The top three subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services by themselves—Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Sky Now TV—totaled 15.4 million accounts in the U.K. in Q1 2018. At the same time, pay TV services totaled 15.1 million subscriptions. This marks the first time SVODs have been more popular than pay TV notes Ofcom (the Office of Communications, the U.K.'s broadcasting regulatory authority). Over half (51 percent) of SVOD customers subscribe to multiple services.
As for how people spend their time, Ofcom reports people average 5 hours 1 minute on daily viewing across all devices. Of that, 3 hours 33 minutes is on broadcast content and 1 hour 28 minutes is on non-broadcast content.
Young people are less likely to watch traditional sources. Those 16- to 34-years-old average 4 hours 48 minutes of total screen viewing each day, of which 2 hours 11 minutes is on broadcast programming and slightly less than an hour is on YouTube.
This shift in viewing means declining revenues for broadcast TV services, less money for new shows from public broadcasters, and more content from the global streaming leaders. Spending on U.K. TV productions by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5 dropped to a 20-year low.
One reason for streaming video's rise is the increase in fast broadband connections.
This data comes from Ofcom's report Media Nations 2018, available for download (no registration required).
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