Deloitte: U.K. Pay-TV Subs are ‘Thickening the Cord’

LONDON: Rather than cord-cutting, British pay-TV subscribers are 50 percent more likely than free-TV homes to subscribe to an additional streaming video service, Deloitte says in its new Media Consumer survey.

"Far from thinning or cutting the cord, demand for new content suppliers are thickening it," the new report says.

However, it's not access to premium content that is keeping people tied to their pay-TV operator; half of pay-TV subs maintain their subscriptions because they've always done so. Another key reason cited for keeping a pay-TV subscription was being part of a bundled package of services. "Access to specific content does not feature highly in the selection criteria," Deloitte adds. "Indeed, only 14 percent of respondents said access to premium content was a key factor, 10 percent listed sports and less than 10 percent mentioned the ability to watch content on multiple devices.

"The habitual purchase of pay TV is a sure sign that the industry has a great deal of resilience," Deloitte says. "Although it is likely that predicting its death will remain fashionable, pay TV in the U.K. seems set to remain with us for the foreseeable future."

The study also reports that 72 percent of respondents regularly watch ten or fewer channels, even though most homes can access at least 50. Pay TV is crucial to the U.K. creative economy, Deloitte notes, delivering more than half of the sector's revenues.

Another key finding is that binge viewing has become a common habit in the U.K., with about 24 percent of respondents preferring to watch several episodes at a time rather than waiting for a weekly broadcast.

The 25 to 34 set are the biggest binge viewers, according to the Deloitte U.K. report, followed by 16- to 24-year-olds and then 35 to 44. The report says that 4.5 percent of respondents have Netflix and would binge-view there, whereas only 0.3 percent of those using a TV VOD service would binge on multiple episodes.