19.6 million homes in the United Kingdom have access to an online video subscription service, an increase of almost half a million since the end of 2021. The greatest growth has come from Disney+ and Apple TV+, although Netflix and Amazon Prime Video lead the field and also saw subscriber gains.
68.5% of households in the United Kingdom now have access to one or more online video subscription services. 46.3% have two or more services, which is 13.2 million homes, up from 12.4 million at the end of 2021.
According to the BARB establishment survey for the first quarter of 2022, 17.29 million homes in the United Kingdom have access to Netflix, up 3% from 16.79 million the previous quarter. That suggests that Netflix is still growing its subscriber base there, gaining half million in the quarter, compared to a loss of 636,000 in the United States and Canada in the same period.
13.35 million homes in the United Kingdom have access to Amazon Prime Video, a gain of 6% or 780,000 in three months. The Amazon online video service comes as part of the Amazon Prime membership, which includes free delivery on many retail purchases. The number of subscribers has been steadily catching up with Netflix.
The gains for both Netflix and Amazon follow three quarters during which their subscriber growth appeared to plateau and comes despite increasing competition in the online video subscription market.
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.
While Netflix and Amazon lead, other competing online video subscription services also saw gains.
Disney+ gained over a million subscribers in three months, with a quarterly increase of 19% from 5.49 million at the end of 2021 to 6.53 million at the end of the first quarter of 2022.
Apple TV+ saw a 27% quarterly increase in subscribers, albeit from a smaller based of 1.24 million, growing to 1.57 million.
Now TV, powered by Sky, had a 4% increase from 2.06 million to 2.13 million subscribers.
Paramount+ has now launched in the United Kingdom, adding to the number of competing online video subscription services.