UK SVOD subs surpass 19 million homes for the first time

More than 19 million UK homes have access to at least one SVOD service, a new report has revealed.

Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB), the UK’s audience measurement and television ratings organisation, has released data from its Establishment Survey for Q4 2021, offering an insight into the viewing habits of UK households.

The report reveals that the number of UK households with access to an SVOD service has risen above 19 million for the first time. Some 19.1 million homes (66.9% of households), up from 18.7 million homes (65.8%) in Q3 2021.

Disney+ saw the largest increase of the quarter, with the number of homes with access to its service up almost 5% for the quarter, up to 5.5 million homes. By contrast, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Now all experienced small quarterly gains.

Netflix, Prime and Now all only added 100,000 UK subscribers in the quarter, to 16.8 million, 12.6 million and 2.1 million subscribers respectively.

Subscription stacking also increased, with the number of homes that subscribe to two or more SVOD services rising to 12.4 million homes (43.3%) in Q4 2021, up from 12.3 million homes (43.1%) in Q3.

Justin Sampson, BARB’s Chief Executive said: “We have been providing valuable insight into SVOD services since 2014, when we began reporting on the uptake of these services in our Establishment Survey.

“Last November, we took a big step forward when we upgraded our daily audience reporting to include SVOD and video-streaming services. As well as reporting the total time spent watching these services, we deliver audience ratings for programmes on Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Netflix. This is the first time audiences for streaming services are being reported with all the hallmarks of a joint-industry measurement system: independence, objectivity and transparency.”