Fall in SVOD subscriptions in UK, finds Barb

The latest figures, part of Barb’s Establishment Survey, showed 18.8 million UK homes had at least one SVOD service in the fourth quarter of 2023, down from 19.3 million in the previous quarter.

Netflix was present in 16.3 million UK homes – 56.7% of total households – in the fourth quarter, down from 16.7m in the third quarter of 2023.

Of those subscribing to Netflix, 1.45 million had opted for the new tier of subscription that allows advertising.

Barb said 12.4 million homes had Amazon Prime Video, a fractional decline from 13 million homes in the third quarter of last year, while Apple TV+ was in 1.98 million UK homes, down from 2.2 million.

Disney+ also had a fall in homes subscribing to the service, from 7.6 million to 7.3 million, and Now saw subscribers drop from 1.9 million to 1.82 million.

However, Paramount+ saw a rise in households subscribing, up from 1.93 million to 1.99 million in the final quarter of the year.

Doug Whelpdale, head of insight at Barb, said: “The latest data from our Establishment Survey show access to pure-play VOD services dropped slightly in Q4 last year. The proportion of homes with two or more services also slipped back compared to Q3, dipping from 13.3m ( 46.4%) to 12.8m ( 44.7%) in Q4.

“As they continue to battle it out in the UK viewing ecosystem, the festive period proved a competitive time. Families may have prioritised festive spending at a time when the broadcaster offering is strong. And mostly free.”