UK SVOD numbers dip but Now and Apple TV+ make gains

The number of UK homes with access to an SVOD subscription has slipped slightly over the last quarter, according to audience research outfit BARB.

According to the organisation’s latest release of data from its Establishment Survey, 19.08 million UK homes (or 67.4% of households) had access to a subscription video-on-demand service in Q1 2023. This was a 1.7% decrease from the 19.42 million recorded in Q4 2022.

The drop affected the principal international streamers except Apple TV+, while local player Now saw a significant gain.

Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ saw small quarterly drops in the number of UK homes with access to their services:

Some 16.96 million homes had access to Netflix in Q1 2023, down -1.1% from 17.15 million in Q4 2022.

Meanwhile 12.90 million homes had access to Amazon Prime Video in Q1 2023, down 1.7% from 13.12 million in Q4 2022.

Some 7.14 million homes had access to Disney+ in Q1 2023, a decline of 1.9% from 7.28 million in Q4 2022.

By contrast, Comcast’s NOW and Apple TV+ saw quarterly gains.

Some 2.03 million homes had access to NOW in Q1 2023, up 8.0% on 1.88 million in Q4 2022.

Meanwhile, 1.91 million homes had access to Apple TV+ in Q1 2023, an increase of +13.0% from 1.69 million in Q4 2023.