Streaming services rise in popularity

The TouchPoints data also showed that users of SVOD services were watching for an average of one hour and 20 minutes a day, up from 37% of the population watching one hour and six minutes daily on average in 2018.

IPA TouchPoints has run for 15 years and analyses the daily life and media usage of people across Great Britain, based on a representative sample of more than 6,000 adults aged 15+.

The latest data showed that 78% of 15 to 24-year-olds were watching SVOD platforms, and that almost a third of the over 55s were also using the services.

Netflix was the most popular SVOD service, being used by 44% of users, followed by Amazon Prime Video ( 23%) and Disney+ ( 15%). No other platform rose above 3% of the SVOD audience.

Despite Netflix’s dominance, TouchPoints showed that the company accounted for 59% percentage of time watching SVOD, compared to 74% in 2018.

Disney+ had a 13% share of streaming time, up from 7% at the beginning of this year. TouchPoints said that most of this viewing time and share had come from

Belinda Beeftink, research director at the IPA, said: “As technology improves, streaming capabilities increase and programming budgets ramp up, it is perhaps no wonder that the take-up of SVOD channels continues to rise.

“What is remarkable is the speed at which their overall popularity has grown, and specifically Disney+ which has clearly made its mark on the viewing habits of the Great British public in a very short space of time.”

IPA Touchpoints also found that post lockdown 2021 more than half the British population shopped online ( 54%), up from 31% in 2018, although 81% of people shopped in-store each week, up from 61% in the first 2020 lockdown.

Rates of exercise and sport ( 65% of the population) and alcohol consumption ( 63%) have both risen from comparative lows of 57% and 59% during 2020.

Facebook saw an increase in reach in 2021 to 66%, but its share of total social media time hit 41% after falling from 51% in 2018.