UKTV’s digital first strategy has delivered strong VOD growth following the BBC Studios-owned broadcaster’s decision to unite its channels and streaming service under new U masterbrand and to combine its previously separate linear and VOD divisions.
In 2024, UKTV saw views to its free streaming service U grow by over a third (34%) resulting in the service doubling direct to consumer viewing in just two years. 2024 also saw U’s active users increase by 21% and content on the service bolstered from 7000 hours to over 9000 hours. In addition, UKTV achieved record growth to its VOD content across its pay and free platforms, with total viewer minutes for individuals growing by 40%, outstripping its competitors and resulting in UKTV having the fastest growing on demand presence in Britain. In linear, UKTV’s Share of Commercial Impacts (SOCI) held strong at 8.79%, with only a marginal 0.02pp drop from its record high of 8.81% in 2023, reflecting the ongoing challenges in linear TV.
Marcus Arthur, UKTV’s CEO, described the company's digital strategy: “2024 was a pivotal year in UKTV’s digital transformation, and it is testament to the hard work of everyone here that in just two years we have doubled viewing to the U streaming service and achieved record viewing across all our VOD inventory, outpacing the growth achieved by our competitors. UKTV continued to accelerate streaming growth throughout last year despite the continued backdrop of market pressures impacting broadcasters, streamers and content makers. While we haven’t been immune to the challenges facing the industry and the decline in linear TV viewing, we’ve driven VOD growth by unifying our VOD and linear businesses and by making smart investments in content, product and branding," he explained.
In addition to the U steaming service growing views and active users throughout 2024, adult viewing across all demographics also grew, with a notable 25% uplift in views for 35-54 year olds. Drama content performed particularly well with "Whitstable Pearl", "The Marlow Murder Club", "The Chelsea Detective", "Sister Boniface Mysteries" and "Darby & Joan" responsible for the five highest rating episodes on U.
Andrea Amey, Chief Digital Officer at UKTV, referred to the development of the app: “We’ve achieved this by rebuilding the U app, adding improvements to user experience, app stability, sustainability and content discovery. In 2024 we also expanded U’s footprint by launching on Sky Glass, Sky Stream and Freely devices and we added over 2000 hours of content to the service," noted.
The full rebuild and rollout of the U app was accompanied by the expansion of content genres on U, most notably true crime with over 500 hours joining the U catalogue. U also added more US box sets to its growing catalogue with the likes of "Sons of Anarchy", "Brothers and Sisters" and "Prison Break", plus it bolstered its crime drama offering with shows such as "Recipes For Love And Murder", "Cardinal and Blackshore".
UKTV’s FAST channels U&LAUGHS, U&Transport, U&Real Heroes and U&The Past, offering curated access to some of UKTV’s most loved shows, enjoyed a successful year across platforms Samsung TV Plus, Pluto TV, Amazon Prime Video, and Virgin Media TV. Summer was a particularly strong period with viewing almost doubling during the hot months, topped only by an exceptional December.
Also, U&Original content performed particularly strongly for UKTV in 2024."The Marlow Murder Club" became the broadcaster’s best performing show of the year watched by 2.6m, making it UKTV’s biggest programme launch in over 10 years.The crime drama also marked UKTV’s first original commission for its U&DRAMA channel with an extended 6x60’ second series due to air in March.
Originations topped the ratings charts across UKTV’s six commissioning channels: The Red King (U&alibi), Absolutely Fabulous: Inside Out (U&GOLD), Will & Ralf Should Know Better (U&Dave), The Marlow Murder Club (U&DRAMA), Inside The Ambulance (U&W), and Bangers & Cash (U&YESTERDAY).
Richard Watsham, UKTV’s Chief Creative Officer, focused on the investment: “We’ve invested shrewdly and worked collaboratively with partners to fund shows at a range of price points. U&Original drama content has performed particularly strongly with The Marlow Murder Club and The Red King enjoying significant ratings success," commented.
UKTV also celebrated success with its factual and fact ent shows in 2024. Will & Ralf Should Know Better wasU&Dave’s top performing show, and originations such as Katherine Ryan: Parental Guidance and Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over helped propel U&W to its Best Entertainment Channel win at the Broadcast Digital Awards. In addition, Jamali Maddix: Follow the Leader, has been nominated for Best Multichannel Programme at the upcoming Broadcast Awards.
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