New research from Ampere Analysis has studied the TV viewing habits of Internet households in Europe’s big five markets. The snapshot of the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain comes at a time when the region experiences a series of lockdowns.
On average, over 80% of pay-TV households across the UK, France, Spain, Italy and Germany also subscribe to at least one streaming service. France saw the highest increase with 72% of pay-TV households now also taking SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand) in Q1 2021, compared to 66% in Q1 2020.
The proportion of Internet households with three or more services continues to rise.
When taking into account any streaming services that are being paid-for directly, borrowed, bundled in free or trial accounts, the UK comes out in front. 31% of UK Internet users have three or more services, closely followed by Spain at 28% and Italy at 27%. In Germany it’s 22% and in France it’s 16%.
SVOD services in Europe are frequently used alongside broadcaster led catch-up services. 33% of Internet users in the big five European markets report watching both catch-up and SVOD services, although catch-up-only viewers are in the minority. The UK is the only market where a long form catch-up service, the BBC iPlayer, is ahead of an SVOD service.
Six out of 10 consumers in Ampere’s research say they regularly watch several episodes of the same TV show back-to-back in Italy, France, the UK and Spain. Germany had the lowest proportion of binge watchers among the Europe big 5, with 48% of Internet users saying they watch several episodes of the same TV show back-to-back.
Annabel Yeomans, Senior Analyst at Ampere said: “As online viewing increases in popularity in Europe, BVoD platforms can reach younger audiences who are not engaging via linear. However, to do this, they will have to change commissioning strategies to ensure they are providing content which appeals to this demographic. This may include online only content or genres which would not traditionally align with their linear platforms. If they do not pivot, they could lose further ground to SVoD services.”
