Kantar: Amazon Prime Catching Up to Netflix in U.K. Streaming Landscape

Kantar’s Entertainment on Demand study in the U.K. has found that while Netflix is still providing the most-watched content, Amazon Prime Video is quickly gaining ground and is expected to overtake the streaming giant by the end of 2024.

According to Kantar, between September and December 2021, the number of VOD-enabled households that subscribed to at least one streaming service in the U.K. grew to 17.1 million, up by almost 400,000 quarter on quarter, representing 59 percent of households. Six percent of households took out a new video streaming subscription in Q4, up slightly on the same period in 2020. Also, 34 percent of SVOD subscriptions taken out in the quarter were by households that were new to the SVOD category, with stacked subscribers (40 percent) now the largest single driver of new subscriptions.

Netflix’s Squid Game was the most-enjoyed title in Q4, followed by Disney’s Hawkeye. Netflix’s customer base essentially remained flat in the U.K. during Q4 vs. Q3, gaining around 70,000 new subscribers. Prime Video, meanwhile, gained over 700,000 subs in the same period. Netflix’s share of new SVOD subscribers in Q4 was closer to that of Apple TV+, NOW or BritBox than it is to Disney+ or Prime Video.

Netflix, Kantar says, is faced with some major choices: It can accept that subscriber numbers will remain broadly flat and continue to put through price rises in mature markets like the U.K. to increase revenue per subscriber. If it wants to drive up paying subscribers, it may have to come down hard on password sharing, which has the potential to increase its subscriber numbers between 10 to 15 percent. It could also accelerate diversification, as it has done in the U.S. by a move into mobile gaming, to attract untapped audiences. Another move would be to reintroduce free trials, reversing its previous decision (Prime Video uses this to strong effect). Kantar also points to live sports streaming and ad-supported tiers as potential growth drivers.

With regard to its share of actual subscribers, Prime Video is catching Netflix at an “astonishing rate,” according to Kantar. In Q1 2020, there was a 30-percentage-point gap between the two services; by December 2021, that gap had closed to 11 percentage points. Recent trends suggest Prime Video could be set to overtake Netflix in absolute subscriber numbers by Q4 2024.

The firm does highlight some of the challenges Prime Video still faces. For example, Netflix stopped providing access to free trials in late 2020, but this remains a crucial tool for Amazon to drive Prime Video membership: in Q4 2021, 41 percent of its new sign-ups were through free trials. The Prime Video Net Promoter Score has fallen over consecutive quarters throughout 2021, with advocacy rates for Prime Video below major competitors. There is just one Prime Video title in the top ten most-enjoyed VOD titles across the U.K. in Q4: Wheel of Time.

Disney+ enjoyed a strong Q4, with its share of new subscribers up 5 percentage points compared to the same period last year, to 19.3 percent. Disney+ closed out the year with nearly one in four VOD-enabled households subscribing to the service across the U.K.

Apple TV+ achieved a record 7.3 percent of new SVOD subscribers in the quarter. Ted Lasso continued to be a key driver for customer acquisition in the quarter, with Finch and Foundation also playing a role in helping Apple TV+ achieve its highest ever share.

BritBox also saw a record quarter, with the share of new subscribers reaching 5.7 percent in Q4. BritBox continues to draw new customers in with high-profile series such as Doctor Who, Downton Abbey and Spitting Image.