According to Kantar, one in five UK homes has subscribed to a new video streaming service during lockdown.
The company has launched its new Entertainment on Demand service in the UK, which aims to help major players, market entrants and investors understand the ‘why’ behind the ‘buy’ decision subscribers are making.
Other consumer behaviour observed by Kantar in the three months to April includes:
- Over 6 million new video streaming subscriptions were purchased across the UK. 21 per cent of British households purchased a new video subscription as they sought new entertainment options during the Covid-19 lockdown period, taking the average number of subscriptions to 2.3 per household
- 56 per cent of UK households have at least one Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) subscription
- 52 per cent of new subscriptions were for Disney Plus, despite the service only launching 24th March
- Almost half of all Disney Plus subscribers signed up for an annual subscription,.
- Access to back catalogues proved a key differentiator, creating challenges for those brands without wide ranging content
- Netflix dominated in customer advocacy, with a Net Promoter Score of +46, far higher than its competitive set
Dominic Sunnebo, SVP at Kantar, Worldpanel Division, said, “As more UK consumers turn to subscription-funded streaming for their entertainment needs, it’s clear they want a wide range of content, with Netflix and Disney Plus the clear winners. With over half of SVoD subscribers happy with the value for money subscriptions offer, this move towards stacked services is likely to continue.”
“Covid-19 has no doubt driven the short term-gains for subscription services, but with so many planning to cut their subscriptions in the coming months SVoD brands need to adopt new marketing strategies to stem the flow. Disney’s pre-launch special was a perfect example of how successful this can be, with almost half of its customers signing up to its annual subscription offer.”
Kantar’s research is based on a longitudinal panel of 15,000 consumers and 2,500 new subscriber interviews each quarter.
