Over half of homes in the United Kingdom have a Netflix, Amazon Prime or Now TV online video subscription service. A fifth of homes subscribe to two or more of these services. Netflix is the market leader, with 12.35 million homes, or more than two out of five households, an increase of almost a fifth in a year. Almost half of homes in the country with broadband have Netflix.
The BARB establishment survey shows that the number of homes with a subscription to at least one of Netflix, Amazon Prime or Now TV reached 50.5% in the last quarter of 2019.
14.27 million homes in the United Kingdom access at least one of these services, out of a total of 28.24 million households. That is an increase of 600,000 homes or 4.4% in a quarter, or 17.6% in a year.
6.02 million homes subscribed to two or more of these services, up by almost 40% in a year.
While Netflix has the most subscribers, Amazon Prime is the fastest growing, gaining 35% over year to reach 7.14 million homes. It added 11.6% to its subscriber base in the fourth quarter, partly driven by exclusive coverage of Premiere League football over Christmas.
Now TV, powered by Sky, grew 8% over the year to 1.69 million homes, but fell from a peak of 1.93 million in the second quarter.
While it may be convenient to consider these online video subscription services as similar, they have very different business models.
Netflix is a pure video-on-demand service. Amazon Prime is bundled as part of a membership which includes free delivery on Amazon purchases. Now TV offers flexible access to packages of Sky television channels and videos.
Netflix is now in 43.7% of all homes in the United Kingdom. That is more than have only terrestrial television and more than have only satellite or cable, although 62.9% of households in the United Kingdom use terrestrial television in total.
Netflix is in 49.7% of homes in the United Kingdom with broadband, or every other addressable home in the country.
That is still less than the proportion of homes with a digital video recorder, which 56.6% of all households, or the percentage with a DVD or Blu-Ray disc player, which is 55.4% of all households.