The number of British households taking out a new VOD service has reached its lowest level in 12 months in Q2.
Kantar’s latest Entertainment on Demand research on the UK streaming market described Q2 as “a light quarter” for new subscriptions, with 8% of the British population taking out a new VOD service.
It revealed that 19.5m households had at least one service — down 300,000 on the previous quarter. Kantar does not distinguish between ad-free and ad-supported subscriptions in its figures.
A similar plateau was observed in Barb’s most recent Establishment Survey, which examined UK households with a subscription VOD (SVOD) platform in Q1.
Andrew Skerratt, global insights director at Kantar, told The Media Leader that there were three potential factors behind this low.
First, over the past 12 months, both Apple TV+ and Paramount+ have been “a key driver of new subscriptions”. In Q2, Skerratt observed “weaker adoption” for both platforms, primarily due to a “less compelling” slate of new content and “weakening subscriber buzz” around their hit shows.
This week, Bloomberg reported that Apple is looking to control production costs for Apple TV+ after its investment of more than $20bn on original TV shows and films has not changed high churn rates on the platform.
Secondly, market leaders Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ enjoyed “a strong quarter” of subscriber engagement in Q2. This meant households focused their viewing time on these services and showed “less inclination” to explore content offerings elsewhere.
Thirdly, seasonality is a contributing factor to reduced adoption of SVOD services, as viewers spend more time on other activities and there are fewer promotional offers from the platforms. Skerratt said that in the previous two years, Q2 emerged as “the lightest quarter” of each year.
Disney+ tops new subscribers
In terms of new subscribers, Disney+ was top in the UK in Q2 with a 19% share, followed by a “rebounded” Prime Video and Warner Bros Discovery, which operates TNT, Eurosport and Discovery+.
Apple TV+ had held the top spot for the last six months, but dropped to the fourth in Q2 with a 12% share.
The release of series 20 of Grey’s Anatomy was cited as the “top driver” of new subscriptions to Disney+ over the quarter. Series three of Clarkson’s Farm was responsible for 14% of new Prime Video subscriptions, while sports were “a driving force” for one in four new subscribers for Warner Bros Discovery.
Despite Disney+’s strong new subscriber performance, Netflix’s Baby Reindeer was the most enjoyed show in the UK in Q2, responsible for 8% of all new subscribers, followed by Clarkson’s Farm.
Skerratt said the latest data revealed “the dynamic nature of the GB streaming market”.
He explained: “Prime Video’s resurgence, driven by popular content like Clarkson’s Farm, highlights the importance of compelling content in retaining subscribers. Meanwhile, the strong performance of Disney+ and Netflix underscores their ability to consistently deliver engaging shows that resonate with diverse audiences.
“Understanding these trends and consumer preferences is crucial for streaming services aiming to maintain and grow their subscriber base in a highly competitive market.”
What about ads?
The survey also polled attitudes to ad-supported tiers, which Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video have all adopted.
It found that Disney+’s ad tier was “playing a key role” in attracting new subscribers, with more viewers rating the ad experience higher than most of its peers.
The proportion of those surveyed who said they would accept ads if it made the service cheaper had increased to 47% compared with 42% 18 months ago.
Amazon Prime Video sees ‘significant’ UK churn following ad tier launch
