Figures from Barb’s latest Establishment Survey suggest that a new record has been reached in the number of UK homes with a paid video streaming service, with the number now standing at 20.1million – up slightly on the 20m reported in August.
In addition to live TV channels, the broadcaster and advertiser-backed body measures viewing on both catch-up services, such as iPlayer, and paid-for streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+ which have a household penetration of more than 5%.
According to the latest figures:
- Netflix: 17.3m UK homes (59%) had access to Netflix in Q3 2024 up from 17.1m UK homes (58.6%) in Q2.
- Prime Video: 13.4m UK homes (45.9%) had access to Amazon Prime Video in Q3 down from 13.7m UK homes (46.7%) in Q2.
- Disney+: 7.5 UK homes (25.7%) had access to Disney+ in Q3 down from 7.6m UK homes (26.1%) in Q2.
- Apple TV+: 2.5m UK homes (8.6%) had access to Apple TV+ in Q3 up from 2.4m UK homes (8.3%) in Q2.
- Paramount+: 2.8m UK homes (9.4%) had access to Paramount+ in Q3 flat from 2.8m UK homes (9.7%) in Q2.
- Discovery+: 3.2m UK homes (10.9%) had access to Discovery+ in Q3 flat from 3.2m UK homes (11.1%) in Q2.
- NOW: 2.1m UK homes (7%) had access to NOW in Q3 up from 1.98m UK homes (6.8%) in Q2.
Barb has also shared an estimate for the number of subscribers to the advert-supported plans on Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon:
- The number of UK homes on the Netflix ad tier continues to build, reaching 3.8m (13.1%) up from 2.78m (9.5%) in Q2.
- The Disney+ ad tier averaged 1.2m (4.1%) up from 820k homes in Q2.
- 86% of homes with Prime Video access in Q3 are on the ad tier – 11.5m homes (39.3%). This much higher figure is accounted for how, unlike other services which introduced a cheaper ad-supported plan, Prime Video introduced adverts for all users alongside a new £2.99 monthly charge to remove them.
Doug Whelpdale, Head of Insight at Barb, said: “After strong growth in Q1 and Q2 it was perhaps inevitable that the growth in homes accessing subscription VOD services would slow.
“The overall number of homes accessing at least one SVOD service remained above 20m, but the number with more than two services dipped to below 14m homes. Suggesting viewers continue to remain wary of economic turbulence.
“This stability in overall subscriber numbers further demonstrates why services are exploring other avenues to continue revenue growth.
“While Amazon is likely to be the biggest ad tier for some time, it’s interesting to see the growth of the Netflix ad tier towards 4m homes and Disney+ past 1m homes.
“With darker evenings and the festive season on the horizon the number of ad tier homes for Netflix and Disney seems likely to grow.”