EXCLUSIVE: UK viewers spent triple the time watching the BBC compared to Netflix last year, according to a report from leading media analyst Enders Analysis that marks the streamer’s 10th anniversary in the nation.
Enders’ in-depth report set out to “provide context” to Netflix’s rapid UK growth since 2012, finding that the proportion of total UK viewing to Netflix was 7% in 2021, compared to 22% for the BBC.
Netflix was equal with Channel 4, but well below ITV (16%), and YouTube (14%). The streamer’s proportion of UK viewing has risen over the past decade although remained broadly flat last year. Enders estimates that 16.7M UK households subscribed to Netflix in the last decade. This figure has not fluctuated over the past decade.
The analysis comes following the UK government’s decision to freeze the BBC licence fee for the next two years, with many of the corporation’s staunchest opponents pointing to Netflix’s superior catalogue and similar price tag. At £13.99 ($18.80) per month, a Premium Netflix subscription is slightly more expensive than the £159.50 ($214.08) annual licence fee, with Netflix’s £9.99 ($13.40) Standard package around £3 ($4) per month less.
The BBC’s defenders point out that it produces programming in areas that Netflix will never touch, such as news, arts, radio and education.
Enders’ report signalled that Netflix’s UK penetration could ramp up if it continues to “entice older viewers,”A group that spends more time watching TV than others.
Between 2019 and 2021 (which included approximately nine months of lockdown), the average amount of Netflix watched per person per day by over 65s doubled from less that five minutes to around 10 minutes, while viewing time for 55-64 year-olds soared to 15 minutes per daily.
The number of youth viewers grew in 2020, but they fell last year.
This could be due to the entry of rivals such as Disney+, who quickly secured international subscribers.
According to Enders, the number of subscribers to SVoD services that don’t have a Netflix or Sky sub doubled last year to 2.2M.
The analysis is entitledNetflix – A decade in the UK,also pointed to the way in which Netflix has relied on traditional broadcasters’ programming and, in turn, how broadcasters require Netflix’s money in order to meet super-inflated drama budgets.
In the past six months, BBC One’sThe Salisbury PoisoningsITV’sDownton Abbeyand Channel 4’sAckley Bridgehave all appeared in Netflix’s top-10 most-watched list.
Shiny hit BBC dramas like Jenna Coleman-starring are now in turn. The SerpentDraculaAndGiri/HajiWithout co-production investment from Netflix, this would have been impossible.
As Netflix commissions more fully-funded original programming from the UK, Enders forecast a decline in its number of co-produced offerings, which could have ramifications for the traditional broadcaster’s ability to compete.
“The new streaming market has revealed that Netflix is taking a progressively larger proportion of declining long-form viewing time,”The report was also added. “We believe that predominantly this is a product of better distribution and experience, rather than of inherently superior content.”
Enders added that Netflix’s UK commissioning team is now “populated with people who have built their careers within UK broadcasters and indies.”
Anne Mensah, Netflix’s UK-based VP of Content, spent many years plying her trade for the BBC and Sky, for example.