Research shows UK SVOD subscriptions still growing

New research by Omdia shows that SVOD subscriptions in the UK are still growing despite the cost of living crisis.

Speaking at this week’s Connected TV Summit, Omdia Senior Director Maria Rua Aguete said: “The number of people paying for video services in the UK has increased 11% over the last year and quarter on quarter since April 2021.”

According to Aguete, despite the UK cost of living crisis, people from the UK are tending to spend more on streaming video services.

The research claims that in terms of dealing with rising costs, consumers prefer to cut other expenses than their own entertainment at home.

Currently, the average UK household has 2.6 pay subscription services at home, 2 SVOD services and 0.6 Pay TV.

Despite Netflix results showing a decline in global subscriptions (200,000 in Q1 2022), Netflix remains the UK’s favourite video service. It is also still the most popular SVOD service in domestic market, the USA.

The most popular subscription services in the UK currently are Netflix with 15.5 million subscriptions, Amazon Prime video with 10 million subscriptions and Disney Plus with 7.5 million subscriptions.

YouTube and BBC iPlayer are the favourite online video services in the UK followed by Netflix

45% more subscription video services were cancelled in the last 12 months, while overall there were 20% more consumers cancelling their services compared to last year, but counteracting this trend, the number of services cancelled and resubscribed to in the last 12 months has grown higher by 84% meaning that although more people are churning, more people are subsequently resubscribing.

The biggest growth in the last six months comes from Disney: 21%, NOW TV: 18%, Netflix: 8% and Amazon: 5%

Omdia expects that Netflix, currently in the lead in the streaming video race (Q1 2022), will still lead in five years’ time (2026) Aguete adds: “With the lowest churn rate across all streaming video services and highest lifetime value per costumer, Netflix will continue and surpass Disney by 2026.”