The UK’s first study has revealed the most watched shows on subscription video on demand services and the reasons why the public sign up in the first place.
GfK sampled video streams between mid-December 2013 and the end of March 2014. The figures place Breaking Bad at the top of the table followed by Dexter and Prison Break. Netflix original commission House of Cards is fourth.
All the shows featured in the Top 10 are US-imports; four were originally shown on a mainstream channel. These are the now cancelled Heroes (BBC Two), Prison Break (Channel 5) Breaking Bad – dropped by Channel 5 after its second season and Channel 4’s Desperate Housewives.
“Julia Lamaison, Insight Director for Media and Entertainment at GfK, comments, “Broadcasters and distributors have, for some time, wanted audience data for OTT viewing of video content – particularly for SVOD services such as Netflix and Amazon Instant. The data shows the importance of drama series to these services, with six out of the top 10 titles driving consumption similarly in the UK and USA.”
Viewers’ main reason for signing up was the movie back catalogue; followed by the same for TV. The much touted binge viewing ‘To watch multiple episodes in a row’ was fifth and of interest to just 32% of those surveyed.
Top 10 programme titles by market
| Title | % of all streams |
|---|---|
| Breaking Bad | 11.9 |
| Dexter | 4 |
| Prison Break | 3.5 |
| House of Cards | 3.1 |
| The Walking Dead | 2 |
| Sons of Anarchy | 1.7 |
| 24 | 1.5 |
| Heroes | 1.4 |
| Orange is the New Black | 1.4 |
| Desperate Housewives | 1.3 |
