Vodafone Spain sees big impact TV viewing patterns under COVID lockdown

Vodafone España saw the number of TV minutes viewed per day jump from 213 in February to 380 in April as Spain went into lockdown, with the jump in viewing time continuing even into June, when the operator recorded an average of 267 minutes’ viewing time.

Vodafone found that use of TV tripled for the hours between 24:00 and 02:30, with growth in nocturnal viewing continuing into June, which saw an increase of 111% for the night-time hours between 02:30-07:00.

Vodafone also saw growth in take up of pay TV viewing versus free-to-air channels. While digital-terrestrial channels saw viewing fall by between 5% and 10% between February and June, pay TV viewing grew by 159% over the same period.

Vodafone TV video-on-demand viewing increased by 50% in April, but has since declined to the same level seen in February. However, consumption of linear channels overall declined by 8% in favour of apps integrated by Vodafone in its TV offering.

Use of these apps – of which Vodafone carries HBO España, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Filmin, FOX Now, AXN Now, AMC Selekt and Eurosport Player, tripled at the peak, but in June stood at twice the level recorded for February. The average Vodafone TV customer spends an hour and a half each day watching content on these apps.

In Vodafone’s most recent quarterly results, Spain featured as one of the company’s more troublesome markets, with service revenue declining by 6.9%, hit by lower roaming revenue service suspensions in business and promotional offers. However, the company said that it grew its contract mobile, NGN broadband and TV customer base for a fourth consecutive quarter.