Netflix “By Far” the Most Popular Paid-For VOD Service in the U.K.

LONDON: Among U.K. viewers who watched paid-for on-demand content in 2016, Netflix was by far the most popular service, according to the latest Ofcom report.

The new edition of Ofcom’s Communications Market Report finds that 23 percent of adults used Netflix in their weekly media consumption in 2016, up 10 percent year-on-year. This puts it far ahead of its closest competitor, Amazon, which is at 7 percent. Sky’s VOD offering, Now TV, has grown in popularity, up 3 percentage points to reach 4 percent in 2016.

The key drivers identified for subscribing to an SVOD service related to access to back catalogs of TV and film content. Similar proportions of Netflix users and Amazon users cited “to access back catalog of TV programs” and “to access back catalog of movies” as reasons for subscribing to the respective service. Among Now TV users, access to the back catalog of more recent films was the most frequently cited reason for signing up to the service.

The top ten programs watched across the three leading U.K. OTT SVOD services in 2015 were all U.S. drama series, Breaking Bad being the most-watched program. Four of the top ten programs watched were U.S. originations made by the SVOD provider: Orange Is the New Black, Narcos and House of Cards from Netflix and The Man in the High Castle from Amazon Prime Video.