UK Subscription Streaming Service Popularity Jumps But What Are Irish Parents Saying?
Over half of Brits now watch subscription streaming services each week, according to IPA TouchPoints, with a 51% increase in the reach of subscription video services since 2018 and viewing time having gone up too. But what are Irish parents saying about their family’s subscription to and consumption of streaming services?
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Growth in Subscriptions and Viewing Time for Streaming
The figures from IPA TouchPoints show that UK adults are embracing streaming services, or what the industry terms SVOD (subscription video-on-demand), and that they are spending more time watching them.
During the pandemic and lockdowns, and with the timely arrival of Disney+, many families found streaming services to be a lifesaver. However, we were curious to find out how things were a year on and if things had changed. Although cinemas have reopened, we had heard anecdotally that families were not going that much.
In our recent insights study on Family Entertainment, we also saw increased streaming service subscriptions as a real trend in Ireland with almost all parents paying for at least 1 streaming service and 74% saying they use streaming more than half of the time for family entertainment.
Nearly all the parents we asked said that they use TV as a way to bond with their families.
The Most Popular Streaming Services
The IPA TouchPoints data shows that Netflix continues to dominate the UK market with 44% of adults saying they use it, while Amazon Prime Video commands a reach of 23%, and the newer Disney+ was 15%.
When we asked Irish parents about streaming services, these were the services they told us their family uses. Interestingly Disney+ came in 2nd with Amazon Prime in 3rd place:
“There are a lot of them but the likes of YouTube and Spotify, I use the free version, and we share the price of Netflix with another family member, there are too many to pay for them all.”
“I think a lot of the time we have all these streaming services but if you really looked at them we would be able to use just 1/2 and still have the same experience. I feel we sign up for these things but rarely use them all consistently.”
Irish parents also shared the fact that they are making the move away from programmed TV towards on-demand streaming:
Parents are currently spending on streaming services but there may come a saturation point, as these parents pointed out, “There is such a huge choice nowadays it can be overwhelming.” and “Too many out there to be honest, everything that is half decent you need to pay for”.
So understanding what content the family market would like is key to future retention. ParentsandBrands can help with this.
Would you like tailored insights for your brand? Use our panels of engaged women and our dedicated private platform to gather critical insights to help influence women to deliver long term profitability. Contact us now to find how we can help.
