New figures released by Netgem reveal its TV users have increased their use of free and ad-supported on-demand services, with YouTube, My5 and ITV Hub all seeing notable growth.
The firm provides set top boxes through partner ISPs which give users access to the full range of Freeview Play catch-up services, YouTube, and add-on services including BritBox and Amazon Prime Video.
Its figures, which compare Christmas 2020 with the year before, reveal that Gary Barlow’s Night At The Museum and the return of The Voice helped ITV Hub achieve a 65% year on year boost among Netgem TV users, while My5’s viewing figures increased by 103%.
Meanwhile YouTube saw its usage on the platform soar by 167%.
BBC iPlayer remains the most used catch-up app on Netgem boxes with a 14.4% share of viewing, followed by ITV Hub on 13.6%, narrowly ahead of All4 (13.5%). My5 has the lowest share of all the PSB players with 5.7%.
However the individual catch-up apps are dwarfed by YouTube which has a 45.6% viewing share.
Commenting on the figures, Maria Rua Aguete, Senior Research Director at Omdia, said: “Netgem’s latest streaming figures point to important trends we are also seeing: in a year where we have relied on streaming services to keep us entertained, consumers are increasingly turning to improved free-to-air or ad-supported streaming services, all while having to keep an eye on affordability and pressures on household budgets.”
