UK set to binge on Christmas Over-the-Top' pay-TV services as subscriptions nearly double in a year, Paywizard survey reveals
Paying subscribers for UK Over-the-Top (OTT) TV services nearly doubles in a year to more than a third of all consumers, as British audiences get set for Christmas viewing
OTT subscriptions set for a further boost as a quarter of Brits plan to gear up for holiday TV binge by taking a new service
Yet operators likely to struggle with post-Christmas retention, as 55% of first-time subscribers aim to cancel within six months
London, 13th December 2016 - United Kingdom television audiences are preparing to feast on holiday viewing this Christmas and Over-the-Top (OTT) TV services are top of the menu, as the proportion of British consumers subscribing to paid video-on-demand services has soared from 19% to 34% over the last year, according to new research from subscription, billing and CRM specialist Paywizard.
With its tradition of festive TV specials, the UK Christmas television schedule is jam-packed with special programs and the research shows 71% of Brits intend to watch more TV during the holiday period - making it the binge viewing leader of the six key markets surveyed for the global study of TV trends during the yuletide season.
As the most valuable pay-TV market in Europe, the UK has been an early adopter of pay-OTT services and shows no sign of slowing down: the research reveals 18% of UK consumers are planning to take an OTT subscription for the first time ahead of the 2016 holiday season and 7% are expecting to add an extra pay-OTT service - a combined total of 25%, up from 20% in last year's survey.
The survey of 6,200 consumers worldwide - including 1,044 Brits - was commissioned by Paywizard and conducted by Research Now. It reveals 71% of UK consumers now pay for some form of TV service, including cable, satellite or an internet TV operator such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Instant Video, or Now TV.
The Christmas TV rush promises to boost the overall number of OTT subscribers this holiday season, as the percentage of consumers expecting to take an online pay service for the first time (18% of all respondents) added to the proportion who are existing subscribers (34%) brings the percentage total of UK consumers projected to have a pay on-demand service going into 2017 to 52%.
However, this expected lift in OTT subscriptions may be short-lived, as the survey also found that 55% of first-time UK Christmas subscribers intend to cancel within six months, indicating a strong dip-in, dip-out attitude towards pay-OTT services. This is slightly higher that the global figure of 50%.
Bhavesh Vaghela, Chief Marketing Officer at Paywizard, notes: Even with a single dominant satellite operator, cable services provider and world leading public broadcaster, UK audiences have embraced pay-OTT services, with adoption almost doubling in a single year. But it is also clear OTT operators must fight to retain any gains they make this Christmas.
A range of Devices
In terms of device, marginally more people plan to do their Christmas viewing on a traditional or smart TV this Christmas than last (82% versus 78%), while the same proportion as in 2015, 40%, intend to use a mobile device for at least part of the time. The proportion aiming to use a streaming device, such as Roku, Apple TV and Chromecast, rose slightly by 3% to 10%.
Local players challenging the global brands
While international giants Netflix and Amazon Prime are driving OTT uptake, local challenger Now TV is also growing strongly, with 19% of those who plan to take a digital service for the first time this Christmas intending to go with it.
Vaghela observes: New entrants such as Now TV and BT have both come into the market and gained significant uptake, which demonstrates there is tremendous potential for local challengers to carve out sustainable businesses and compete with the global brands.
However, the research also indicates that not only do operators need to get their pricing right and offer a compelling mix of content; they must make sure to provide a consistently positive customer experience, as almost a third of the existing UK OTT subscribers surveyed listed this among their top three reasons for cancelling a service:
Too expensive (68%)
Not much to watch (40%)
Bad customer experience (29%)
Service providers cannot expect growth to last for ever and content is not enough to build brand loyalty. Elements such as customer service, provider recommendations and package flexibility will increasingly become vital to cementing subscriber loyalty and reducing churn, which is much higher for pay-OTT than traditional cable and satellite services, Vaghela observes.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
02/07/2026
BLAST, a competitive entertainment company focused on esports, has announced more than $133 million in revenue for 2025, representing more than 40% year-over-ye...
02/07/2026
Riedel Communications has announced official SKAARHOJ panel support for SimplyLive production workflows, enabled through the SimplyLive 2.1 release. The integra...
02/07/2026
The Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic has deployed LiveU video-over-bond...
02/07/2026
Gravity Media USA has announced the appointment of Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development, effective July 1, 2026. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bosto...
02/07/2026
TwelveLabs, a video intelligence company, has announced $100 million in Series B funding co-led by NEA and NAVER Ventures, with participation from Amazon, Radic...
02/07/2026
The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports that will air five PPL championship matches on CNBC during the 2026 season, the...
02/07/2026
LiveLike, a digital fan engagement platform, has announced eight confirmed FIFA ...
02/07/2026
Cobalt Digital has received Future's Best of Show Award, presented by AV Technology at InfoComm 2026, for its blueCORE family of standalone signal processor...
02/07/2026
Synamedia has announced the appointment of Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transition...
02/07/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) and Sony Group Corporation have announced an expanded collaboration for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), taking place in Paris, Fra...
02/07/2026
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. ( Z') has announced exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the Bundesliga in India for five years, beginning with the...
02/07/2026
An effort uniting News, Sports, Local, and Telemundo, the 50+-camera live produc...
02/07/2026
Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Ben Wang appe...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
02/07/2026
Aims to simplify additive synthesis
Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...
02/07/2026
Products to remain fully active & supported
Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...
02/07/2026
What you missed!
Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Following the successful launch of its inaugural APAC Mentoring Programme last month, the Rise AV APAC Regional Council will bring the conversation around mento...
02/07/2026
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out
Brie Clayton July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...
02/07/2026
Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...
02/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
UK set to binge on Christmas Over-the-Top' pay-TV services as subscriptions nearly double in a year, Paywizard survey reveals
