UK consumers spent a third of 2020 watching TV and video

UK adults sought solace in screens and streaming in 2020, spending a third of their waking hours watching TV and online video content, according to Ofcom’s annual study of the nation’s media habits. With people across the UK under some form of lockdown restrictions for most of last year, more than 2.000 hours of it were spent watching TV and online video content. That is a daily average of five hours and 40 minutes (47 minutes more than in 2019).

The change was mainly driven by people spending almost twice as much time watching subscription streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ (one hour and five minutes per day).

●  ALL UK ADULTS

●  16-34s

●  STREAM SUPREME

UK subscriptions to streaming services climbed by over 50% last year to reach 31 million, up from 20 million in 2019. This meant that, by September 2020, three in every five UK homes (60%) were signed up, compared to 49% a year earlier. Furthermore, more than half of UK households (52%) have taken out a Netflix subscription – meaning its customer base exceeds that of pay TV providers combined for the very first time (48%).

The main streaming services gathered an estimated £2.11 billion in UK revenues during 2020 – a 28% increase in real terms on 2019’s £1.66 billion – and more than double their revenues in 2017 (£1.03 billion).

●  HOURS OF CONTENT

By April 2021, streaming service providers were offering UK viewers a combined total of over 115.000 hours of content. Amazon Prime video’s catalogue was the largest at over 41.000 hours, followed by Netflix at around 38.000. The combined content catalogues of All 4, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub and My5 were narrowly short of this at 37.000 hours.

At the same time, 29 of the top 30 most-watched titles on subscription services in Q1 2021 were on Netflix. Moreover, four of the most popular shows were UK-produced: “Bridgerton,” “The Dig,” “Behind her Eyes,” and “Fate: The Wynx Saga”. This shows that home-grown, original programmes continue to be a significant draw for British audiences.

●  BROADCAST TV LOSES FURTHER VIEWING SHARE

The average time spent watching traditional broadcast TV each day in 2020 was 3 hours 12 minutes – nine minutes higher than in 2019. But this increase was entirely driven by people aged 45 and over. Younger age groups continued to watch less broadcast TV in 2020. People aged 16-24, for example, only spent an hour and 17 minutes watching broadcast content – down from one hour and 21 minutes in 2019. Overall, the net effect was a fall in broadcast TV’s share of all adults’ total viewing last year, from 67% in 2019 to 61%.

Spending by UK public service broadcasters on first-run, original programmes also dropped sharply by 18% in real terms compared to 2019. However, live sport, drama and news continued to pull in viewers to broadcast TV in early 2021.

“TV and online video have proved an important antidote to lockdown life, with people spending a third of their waking hours last year glued to screens for news and entertainment. The pandemic undoubtedly turbo-charged viewing to streaming services, with three in five UK homes now signed up. But with subscriber growth slowing into 2021 and lockdown restrictions easing, the challenge for the likes of Netflix, Amazon and Disney will be to ensure a healthy pipeline of content and keep customers signed up,”  said Yih-Choung Teh, Group Director, Strategy and Research at Ofcom.