The number of UK households subscribing to an OTT service has eclipsed those with a pay-TV service that take a premium movie channel.
Parks Associates says 33% of U.K. broadband households subscribed to an OTT video service as of 3Q 2015. The same study shows that only 15% of U.K. households with pay-TV subscribe to premium movie channels.
“Overall OTT video usage in the UK favours broadcasters,” said Brett Sappington, director, research, Parks Associates. “The most popular OTT video sources in the UK include BBC’s iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD (now All4), and Demand 5 – all catch-up or on-demand offerings from broadcasters. New OTT video market entrants, especially those with paid services, will have to provide unique value in order to make substantial gains. However, the demand for interesting content is strong enough that there are market opportunities for new OTT video players. Nearly 20% of UK broadband households have recently used a Netflix service, despite the free OTT catch-up options.”
Parks’ Connected Consumer in Europe surveyed broadband households in the UK, Germany, Spain, and France to identify pay-TV and OTT video adoption and usage trends.
The project also reveals UK households with pay-TV services are far more likely to have premium sports channels than pay-TV households in other European markets. Currently 32% of UK households with pay-TV subscribe to a premium sports package.