Exclusive productions are extremely popular among VOD users in the UK, especially those made by the leading streaming providers Amazon and Netflix.
BBC series were also among the most popular British titles.
This is shown by the annual charts on the VOD Ratings analysis platform, published by the consulting and research group Goldmedia. VOD Ratings continuously records the usage of Paid VOD services in Germany and, since January 2019, also in the UK. The 2018 annual VOD ranking just published also includes a representative survey of VOD users in the UK on their favorite series and new discoveries in 2018 (survey: end of December 2018 to mid-January 2019, n=1019).
Game of Thrones (HBO) was the favourite series among the British in 2018, even though no new season was released. This shows how big the hype still is around the series, with the season finale to be broadcast this year.
Stranger Things (Netflix), another production that didn’t release a new season in 2018 but whose season finale was announced for 2019, is in second place. The BBC was able to successfully place three titles in the top 10 most popular series: Peaky Blinders, Killing Eve and Luther. This proves the BBC’s strength in the British market.
The series Bodyguard (World Productions) is one of the most successful new series worldwide – in fact it was the only series launched in 2018 to establish itself in the annual ranking. The Walking Dead (AMC), Orange is the New Black (Netflix) and The Good Place (NBCUniversal) already had a large fan base before 2018. With their latest seasons they could convince again and achieve top positions in the ranking.
The VOD annual ranking for the UK also asked which series the users had discovered in 2018. Netflix was particularly convincing in this respect.
Netflix offered 14 of the 15 new discoveries in 2018. The comedy series The Good Place, which picked up many new viewers with its third season in 2018, took first place among the new discoveries. Second and third places went to Netflix exclusive titles: The stalker series You (Warner Bros.), which came in second after appearing right at the end of 2018, had a particularly strong launch.
The Haunting of Hill House (Paramount) in third place was Netflix’s own horror series for Halloween. Similarly, successful was The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which Netflix had offered in the gap left by “Stranger Things” in 2018 and which was able to score points with viewers thanks to its combination of teen drama and horror.