UK Audiences Spent Triple The Time Watching BBC Than Netflix Last Year, Report Says

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 level with Channel 4 but also well shy of ITV (16%) and YouTube (14%). The streamer’s proportion of UK viewing has risen over the past decade although remained broadly flat last year. Around 16.7M UK households subscribe to Netflix, a figure that has steadily increased over the past decade without floundering, according to Enders.

The analysis comes following the UK government’s decision to freeze the BBC license 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 license 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 signaled that Netflix’s UK penetration could ramp up if it continues to “entice older viewers,” a group that tends to spend more time watching TV than the younger demographic.

Between 2019 and 2021, which included around nine months of lockdown, the amount of Netflix watched per day by over-65s doubled from less than five minutes to around 10, while 55-64 year old viewing similarly rocketed to 15 minutes per day.

Youth viewing also shot up in 2020 but then declined last year, with all age brackets under the age of 55 watching less Netflix.

This could have something to do with the entrance of competitors including Disney+, which rapidly secured subscribers internationally.

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, entitled Netflix – 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’s The Salisbury Poisonings, ITV’s Downton Abbey and Channel 4’s Ackley Bridge have all appeared in Netflix’s top-10 most-watched list.

In turn, glossy hit BBC dramas such as Jenna Coleman-starring The Serpent, Dracula and Giri/Haji, would not have been possible without co-production investment from Netflix.

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,” added the report. “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.