The comprehensive IPA TouchPoints dataset, which provides a 360-degree understanding of British consumers’ daily lives, reveals that since 2018 to post lockdown 2021, the reach of SVOD services (including Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Now TV, Apple TV+, YouTube Premium, BritBox and Disney+) has grown by 51%, with 56% of the British public now viewing these services for an average of around 1hr 20 minutes per day. This is up from 37% reach and for 1 hour 6 minutes in 2018.
Additional SVOD highlights:
- According to the data, the growth of SVOD take-up is being driven by the younger generations, reaching 78% of 15-24-year-olds; 65% of 35-54-year-olds and almost a third, 31%, of those aged 55+ in post lockdown 2021.
- Looking at the reach of the specific SVOD channels, according to the post lockdown 2021 TouchPoints data, Netflix commands the highest level at 44%, followed by Amazon Prime Video at 23% and Disney+ at 15%. Meanwhile, Now TV commands 3% reach; YouTube Premium 2%; Apple TV+ 2% and BritBox 0.8%.
- While Netflix continues to dominate the SVOD market, the data reveals that the percentage of total time SVOD viewers spend watching Netflix, has decreased significantly over the past few years, from a high of 74% in 2018 and 2019 to 59% in post lockdown 2021 (this measured 65% in lockdown 2021).
- Meanwhile, the other SVOD platforms remain constant apart from Disney+ which has seen exponential growth, taking a 13% share of streaming video time, up from 7% in lockdown 2021. Disney+ appears to have taken most of this viewing time and share from Netflix.
Says Belinda Beeftink, Research Director, IPA: "As technology improves, streaming capabilities increase and programming budgets ramp up, it is perhaps no wonder that the take-up of SVOD channels continues to rise. What is remarkable is the speed at which their overall popularity has grown, and specifically Disney+ which has clearly made its mark on the viewing habits of the Great British public in a very short space of time.
It will be interesting to see whether consumers’ consumption of commercial media will have changed as dramatically, which is something we will see in our TouchPoints analysis out early next year, which will of course impact advertising decision making.
Insights into SVOD take-up are just one area that the IPA TouchPoints data provides into consumers’ daily lives and how their media usage fits into this.
A selection of additional 2021 post lockdown IPA TouchPoints highlights:
- Facebook has seen an increase in reach against the lockdown periods, currently at 66%, however, it is representing a smaller share of total social media time at 41% down from 51% in 2018.
- TikTok is a relatively small social media channel, representing only 13% reach and a 6% share of total social time. It is the sixth-largest social platform by reach, but only after (in order) Facebook (66%), YouTube (43%), Instagram (36%), Twitter (23%) and Snapchat (14%).
- In post lockdown 2021, British people have gone back to the booze with 63% of the public drinking alcohol, the highest level since pre lockdown 2020. During the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns, these figures fell to 59% and 53% respectively.
- More Brits are doing sport or exercise now (65%) than in pre-lockdown 2020 (57%) and for longer each day (40mins now vs 31 minutes). These figures peaked in the 2020 lockdown with 73% of Brits exercising for an average of 43 minutes per day.
- In post lockdown 2021 over half the British population shops online (54%), up from 31% in 2018, although the high street is clearly seeing a resurgence with 81% of people shopping in-store each week, up from a low of 61% in the first 2020 lockdown.
The IPA will be publishing Making Sense: The commercial media landscape (Version 4) in February 2022 which will focus solely on media in which advertising can be bought, based on 2021 post lockdown IPA TouchPoints data.
Find out more about IPA TouchPoints