Over two thirds of homes in the United Kingdom have access to an online video subscription service. That was 19.1 million homes at the end of 2021, up from 18.7 million the previous quarter. 12.4 million homes have more than one service, but Netflix and Amazon appear to be reaching saturation, while Disney+ has room for growth.
Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Now TV all saw small quarterly gains, with Disney+ showing the largest increase in the number of homes with access to its service.
16.8 million homes had access to Netflix in Q4 2021, an increase from 16.7 million the previous quarter.
12.6 million homes had access to Amazon Prime Video, up from 12.5 million in Q3 2021.
5.5 million had access to Disney+, up 5% from 5.2 million in three months.
2.1 million homes had Now from Sky, up from 2.0 million the previous quarter.
12.4 million homes, or 43% of households, had access to more than one online video subscription service at the end of 2021, up slightly from 12.3 million of 43.1% the previous quarter.
The numbers come from the Establishment Survey provided by the audience measurement organisation BARB, based on 1,000 interviews each week. It is the widest research into how people in the United Kingdom access broadcast channels, on-demand services, and online video subscription services.
“We have been providing valuable insight into SVOD services since 2014, when we began reporting on the uptake of these services in our Establishment Survey,” said Justin Sampson, the chief executive of BARB.
Quarterly reporting was interrupted during the pandemic, which corresponded with growth in the adoption of online video subscription services.
From the third quarter of 2020, BARB extended its definition of online video subscription service access to include households on a trial period or day-pass.
The growth of Netflix and Amazon appears to have reached a plateau over the last year, while adoption of Now from Sky seems to have fallen by a couple of hundred thousand homes.
Disney Plus has grown significantly to 5.5 million homes and still appears to be growing. Although it is a long way behind Netflix and Amazon it has the potential to reach 10 million homes.