56% of the British public now watch SVOD services

The take-up of subscription video on-demand (SVOD) continues to soar, with 56% of the Britain audience now viewing these services each week, according to new post lockdown 2021 IPA TouchPoints data.

The comprehensive IPA TouchPoints dataset, which provides a 360-degree understanding of British consumers’ daily lives, reveals that since 2018 to post lockdown 2021, the reach of SVOD services (including Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Now TV, Apple TV+, YouTube Premium, BritBox, and Disney+) has grown by 51%, with 56% of the British public now viewing these services for an average of around 1 hour and 20 minutes per day. This is up from 37% reach and for 1 hour and 6 minutes in 2018.

According to the data, the growth of SVOD take-up is being driven by the younger generations, reaching 78% of 15-24-year-olds; 65% of 35-54-year-olds and almost a third (31%) of those aged 55+ in post lockdown 2021. Looking at the reach of the specific SVOD channels, Netflix commands the highest level at 44%, followed by Amazon Prime Video at 23% and Disney+ at 15%. Meanwhile, Now TV commands 3% reach, YouTube Premium 2%, Apple TV+ 2%, and BritBox 0.8%.

While Netflix continues to dominate the SVOD market, the data reveals that the percentage of total time SVOD viewers spend watching Netflix has decreased significantly over the past few years, from a high of 74% in 2018 and 2019 to 59% in post lockdown 2021 (this measured 65% in lockdown 2021). Meanwhile, the other SVOD platforms remain constant, apart from Disney+, which has seen exponential growth, taking a 13% share of streaming video time, up from 7% in lockdown 2021. Disney+ appears to have taken most of this viewing time and share from Netflix.

"As technology improves, streaming capabilities increase and programming budgets ramp up, it is perhaps no wonder that the take-up of SVOD channels continues to rise. What is remarkable is the speed at which their overall popularity has grown, and specifically Disney+, which has clearly made its mark on the viewing habits of the Great British public in a very short space of time,”  said Belinda Beeftink, Research Director of IPA.