Research |
Study : UK SVoD subs up 50 %
UK adults sought solace in
screens and streaming in
2020 , spending a third of
their waking hours watching
TV and online video content ,
according to media regulator
Ofcom ’ s annual study of the
nation ’ s media habits .
With people across the UK
under some form of lockdown
restrictions for most of last
year , more than 2,000 hours of
it were spent watching TV and
online video content . That ’ s a
daily average of five hours and
40 minutes – 47 minutes more
than in 2019 .
The change was mainly
driven by people spending
almost twice as much time
watching subscription
streaming services ( one hour
and 5 minutes per day ) such as
Netflix , Amazon Prime Video
and Disney +.
UK subscriptions to
streaming services climbed
by over 50 % last year to reach
31m , up from 20m in 2019 .
This meant that , by September
2020 , three in every five UK
homes ( 60 %) were signed
up , compared to 49 % a year
earlier .
More than half of UK
households ( 52 %) have taken
out a Netflix subscription
– meaning its customer
base exceeds that of pay-TV
providers combined for the
very first time ( 48 %).
The main streaming
services gathered an estimated
£ 2.11 billion (€ 2.48bn ) in
UK revenues during 2020 – a
28 % increase in real terms
on 2019 ’ s £ 1.66 billion –
and more than double their
revenues in 2017 (£ 1.03
billion ).
By April 2021 , streaming
service providers were offering
UK viewers a combined total
of over 115,000 hours of
content . Amazon Prime video ’ s
catalogue was the largest at
over 41,000 hours , followed by
Netflix at around 38,000 . The
combined content catalogues
of All 4 , BBC iPlayer , ITV Hub
and My5 were narrowly short
of this at 37,000 hours .
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Twenty-nine of the top 30 most-watched titles on subscription services in Q1 2021 were on Netflix . Four of the most popular were UKproduced – Bridgerton , The Dig , Behind her Eyes and Fate : The Wynx Saga . This shows that home-grown , original programmes continue to be a significant draw for British audiences .
Bridgerton was a particular success , with 8.2m homes watching by the end of March 2021 , making it Netflix ’ s highest reaching title that quarter . Netflix subscribers also sought escapism during winter lockdown by spending
almost an hour per day watching comedy programmes – nearly twice as much as a year earlier .
The average time spent watching traditional broadcast TV each day in 2020 was 3 hours 12 minutes – nine minutes higher than in 2019 . But this increase was entirely driven by people aged 45 and over .
Younger age groups continued to watch less broadcast TV in 2020 ; people aged 16-24 , for example , only spent an hour and 17 minutes watching broadcast content – down from one hour and 21 minutes in 2019 .
Overall , the net effect was a fall in broadcast TV ’ s share of all adults ’ total viewing last year , from 67 % in 2019 to 61 %.
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Spending by UK public service broadcasters on firstrun , original programmes also dropped sharply by 18 % in real terms compared to 2019 . This was due to cost-cutting measures , as PSBs faced revenue challenges caused by Covid-19 , as well as disruption to the production sector which caused filming delays .
But live sport , drama and news continued to pull in viewers to broadcast TV in early 2021 . The most-watched programme so far this year is the Euro 2020 final ( England vs . Italy ) with a combined audience of over 22m UK viewers on BBC One and ITV .
The Euro 2020 semi-final ( England vs . Denmark ) had the highest audience on a single channel with 18.3m UK viewers on ITV . BBC One ’ s Line of Duty series finale ( 16.4m UK viewers ) and ITV ’ s Oprah Winfrey interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex ( 14.9m UK viewers ) came in third and fourth .
“ TV and online video have proved an important antidote to lockdown life , with people spending a third of their waking hours last year glued to screens for news and entertainment ,” notes Yih-Choung Teh , Ofcom ’ s Group Director , Strategy and Research . “ The pandemic undoubtedly turbo-charged viewing to streaming services , with three in five UK homes
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now signed up . But with
subscriber growth slowing
into 2021 and lockdown
restrictions easing , the
challenge for the likes of
Netflix , Amazon and Disney
will be to ensure a healthy
pipeline of content and keep
customers signed up .”
Forecast : UK adspend to grow 18.2 % in 2021
The UK is set to post the
strongest advertising
expenditure growth of any
major European market at
18.2 % in 2021 to reach a total
of £ 27.7 billion (€ 32.7bn ),
according to an Advertising
Association / WARC Expenditure
Report .
Based on
advertising revenue
data from across
the entire media
landscape , the
report is a significant
upward revision from
the 15.2 % growth
forecast issued
in April . Coming
off the back of an
unprecedented
downturn as a result
of the pandemic , this
rise in spending will
be the highest on
record , recovering
the entirety of 2020 ’ s
£ 1.8 billion decline .
“ Seventy pence in every
pound spent on UK advertising
is invested in digital formats , a
rate which accelerated greatly
last year and is now surpassed
only by China ,” explains
James McDonald , head of data
content at WARC . “ It is these
formats that will lead absolute
growth over the coming terms
and none more so than paid
search , which is seen to be
benefitting from burgeoning
e-commerce trade .”
Takeaways :
• Search cements its
importance to doing
business online with
expected gains of 19.7 %
year-on-year , particularly
significant given the reopening
of physical retail
locations . It suggests that
e-commerce ’ s share of retail
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