UK video streaming continues to increase

In the first three months of the year, 15 million homes accessed at least one of the streaming services, up 5.2% or 700,000 households, from the last quarter of 2019.

The figure has risen by 12.6% year-on-year, and Netflix remains the most popular service, with over 13 million homes subscribed.

The data from Barb relates to the first quarter of 2020, before the Covid-19 lockdown. Any potential increase in subscription video on-demand (SVOD) takeup since then has not yet been captured by Barb’s Establishment Survey.

According to Havas Media Group research on media behaviours, also published this week, video streaming has grown in popularity among 55 to 64-year-olds during the last two weeks, with 9% of respondents in this age group claiming to be watching more streaming platforms since the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown.