Kantar, a global insights and consulting company, has released its Entertainment on Demand (EoD) data on the UK streaming market in Q3. The market is showing signs of growth, with Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) and free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) in particular showing increased use by British households.
Kantar’s study found that SVOD subscribers were up from Q2, with 19.8 million UK households subscribed to at least one paid video streaming service, up from 19.3 million in the previous quarter.
The report further revealed that Disney+ had the highest number of new subs among the SVOD services, garnering 22 percent of the market in Q3. This was partly attributed to the company launching a campaign in which Disney dropped the price of its service to £1.99 for three months for new subscribers.
Discovery+ and Paramount+ also saw subscriber growth in the UK, while Netflix and Amazon Prime Video’s subscriber counts remained largely the same as in Q2.
The study additionally saw Apple TV+ experiencing growth in Q3, increasing their market share to 15 percent of subscriptions, citing new series like Hijack and returning favourites such as Ted Lasso as attracting more signups.
FAST on the rise
Kantar’s research also indicated growth in FAST services, calculating that 16 percent of British households access such services on a regular basis. The firm suggested that the upcoming launch of Freely, a platform developed by the UK’s biggest broadcasters, including BBC, ITV and Channel 4, will allow more competition between themselves and the larger streaming platforms, as well as against established standalone FAST platforms such as Pluto TV and Samsung TV+.
“FAST services are igniting a revolution across the UK, empowering the traditional broadcasters to vie for their share of advertising revenue,” said Dominic Sunnebo, Global Consumer Insight Director at Kantar. “The streaming giants are experimenting with ad-tier and streaming models, allowing the likes of Freely to challenge the UK streaming landscape and the US-based dominance of the service.”
In terms of content discovery, the study noted that friends and family remain key drivers for guiding viewers towards new content. But critics form a significant part of the equation too; Kantar found that 23 percent of Brits rely on critical reviews when choosing what to watch, higher than those finding recommendations from YouTube (21 percent) and TikTok (7 percent).
