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Streaming services have changed the way we watch TV. No longer do you need to wait a week for the next episode of your favourite show. Whether you stream with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Now TV or another service, more than 13 million households in the UK now have at least one streaming subscription.
- Over 46% of homes in the UK now have access to one of Amazon, Netflix or Now TV streaming services.
- In 2019, more than 13 million homes in the UK have at least one streaming subscription.
- This is up 8.4% from the previous quarter (Q4 2018).
- That is more than 1 million new subscriptions in just three months, and it’s the first time the number of new subscriptions has exceeded 1 million.
- Netflix is the UK’s most popular streaming service, with 11.47 million subscribers.
8.4%
more homes have at least one streaming subscription than this time last year.
The UK’s most popular streaming services
Our graph illustrates which of the streaming services the British public used in 2017 and 2018. The top services are ranked based on the number of people using them to stream in 2018. The service used most on average over the two years is BBC iPlayer, with 64% of respondents using this service. In the individual years, Netflix had the highest positive response rate of 70% in 2018.
| Service | 2017 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|
| Netflix | 54% | 70% |
| BBC iPlayer | 66% | 61% |
| Amazon Prime Video | 33% | 44% |
| YouTube | 49% | 43% |
| ITV Player | 36% | 29% |
| All 4 | 30% | 28% |
| NowTV | 12% | 15% |
| SkyGo | 18% | 13% |
| Google Play | 8% | 6% |
| Sky Store Player | 13% | 6% |
| iTunes | 8% | 5% |
| Talk Talk TV | 2% | 2% |
| Other | 12% | 5% |
As well as being the most used streaming service in 2018, Netflix also had the greatest increase in users since the previous year (16%). Following the two top services, 44% of respondents used Amazon Prime Video in 2018 and 43% of respondents used YouTube in 2018.
The number of people watching in the UK
Netflix is by far the most popular streaming service in the UK, with more than 11 million subscribers. Meanwhile, Amazon Prime Video and Now TV have experienced healthy growth over the last year too.
| Streaming service | 2018 | 2019 | Year change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netflix | 9.11mill | 11.47mill | 2.36mill |
| Amazon | 4.83mill | 5.96mill | 1.13mill |
| Now TV | 1.46mill | 1.62mill | 0.16mill |
Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Now TV all gained subscribers between 2018 and 2019. During this time, Netflix gained 2.36 million subscribers, more than double the number of new subscribers for Amazon and Now TV.
Streaming during the coronavirus pandemic
There have been few winners during the corona pandemic, but Netflix and Disney are definitely two of them. Upon launching on March 24 2020, the Disney+ subscription service had over 5 million downloads for their app, but have not yet shared data for the number of subscribers.
Netflix is comforting many people during the quarantine with over 167 million subscribers worldwide. Between January and March 2020, the service anticipated an increase in subscribers of 16.9%, making it 174.1 million paid subscriptions.
Devices used for streaming
Hover over the icons below to find out how many people said they used each device to stream their favourite shows.
| Device | Respondents |
|---|---|
| TV | 42% |
| Computer | 39% |
| Mobile | 35% |
| Tablet | 32% |
| Connected TV box | 28% |
| Video game console | 17% |
The device that is used the most for streaming is the TV, with 42% of people saying they use this method to stream. This device is closely followed by the computer, with 3% fewer people using this compared to the TV. With an average of 34% positive responses, mobile phones and tablets are also popular options.
The growth of the UK’s biggest streaming service
With 11.47 million subscribers in the UK, Netflix is the UK’s biggest streaming service. Compared to the next largest competitor, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix has almost double (1.9 times) the number of subscribers. The graph below shows Netflix’s exponential growth in revenue in US dollars over a 16-year period, which demonstrates its recent spike in popularity.
| Year | Annual revenue |
|---|---|
| 2002 | $0.15bn |
| 2003 | $0.27bn |
| 2004 | $0.5bn |
| 2005 | $0.68bn |
| 2006 | $1bn |
| 2007 | $1.21bn |
| 2008 | $1.37bn |
| 2009 | $1.67bn |
| 2010 | $2.16bn |
| 2011 | $3.2bn |
| 2012 | $3.61bn |
| 2013 | $4.37bn |
| 2014 | $5.5bn |
| 2015 | $6.78bn |
| 2016 | $8.83bn |
| 2017 | $11.7bn |
| 2018 | $15.8bn |
Towards 2018, revenue has increased by larger and larger increments, with revenue being its highest in 2018 at almost $16 billion. Over the last three years on the graph, revenue increased at an average of 33% each year.
Streaming wars
When choosing which streaming service to sign up to, it might be hard knowing which one to pick. Amazon Prime actually has the widest selection of titles to watch, with close to 20,000 titles, although not all are included in the subscription. Netflix offer 5,500 titles and there are almost 900 films and series available on Disney+.
Facts about Netflix
- Netflix streams account for 15% of the world’s total downstream bandwidth.
- Almost a quarter (23%) of all US adults stream with Netflix daily.
- 7 out of 10 US adults binge-watch five episodes in one sitting on Netflix.
- As of June 2019, Netflix was the eighth-largest Internet company in terms of market value.
Sources
Click here for more research. For all media enquiries, please contact:
Matt Mckenna
UK communications manager
T: +44 20 8191 8806
UK communications manager
T: +44 20 8191 8806
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