United Kingdom

Updated December 2022

Market brief

The UK has strong SVOD adoption, 67 percent in 2022 according to Ofcom. US-based services are strongly established with Netflix leading with 60 percent, Prime Video 46 percent, Disney+ 23 percent (derived from Ofcom survey data). Sky TV’s NOW service reaches 7 percent. Four percent of viewers claim use of iTV Hub+, the SVOD version of the service that omits advertising (recently re-launched as ITVX). Although it does not appear among top services, six percent of surveyed homes report using Britbox to watch video content.

Domestic content is most widely available through ad-supported BVOD services. With reliance on ad-funding, such services make British content more accessible but do not contribute new content to the ecosystem. At the time of writing, it was unclear how Britbox would be incorporated into ITVX. A few niche services emphasizing domestic content also exist in the market though appear to have low adoption. AcornTV features a library with more than 60 percent British content and BFI Player is nearly entirely British-produced works.